BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that the Awami League government has been using the energy sector as a tool to plunder public money.
“The main reason behind the current energy crisis is corruption. It (energy) is a great weapon for the government. They have been using the energy sector as a major tool for plundering through corruption,” he said.
Speaking at a seminar today (August 22, 2022), the BNP leader said the government has been plundering public money from every other sector, putting people’s lives and livelihoods at stake.
“You have seen how they have indulged in corruption in the health sector, endangering people’s lives and health during the Covid-19 period. You have also seen how five people lost their lives when a girder fell in Uttara while hundreds of people are dying in accidents on the bridges and roads across the country,” he observed.
The BNP leader compared the Awami League government with the notorious and brutal Bargis — a light cavalry mercenary group of the Maratha Empire known for large-scale plunder in Bengal during the Maratha invasions in the 18th century. “They (AL) are now playing the role of Bargis.”
BNP organised the seminar titled, “Corruption is the source of the energy crisis”, at the National Press Club.
BNP Standing Committee Member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who was the power and energy minister in Khaleda Zia’s government in 1991, presented a keynote paper at the seminar.
In the keynote paper, Mosharraf highlighted the adverse effects of the rise in fuel prices on the economy, the suffering of the common people, and rampant corruption and plundering by the ruling party in the power and energy sector.
Fakhrul said the freedom fighters liberated the country to establish a free, sovereign, liberal, and democratic society, but the current regime has completely turned the country into a “fascist” state, obliterating democracy and people’s rights: “We now can’t talk anywhere, can’t write anywhere and can’t go anywhere.”
Referring to extensive security measures that were taken on Sunday centering Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s programme marking the August 21 grenade attack of 2004, the BNP leader questioned why the head of government is so tense about her security.
He alleged that the prime minister has been repeatedly talking about plots to mislead people.
The BNP secretary general demanded the resignation of the government, dissolution of parliament, and holding of the next election under a non-partisan caretaker administration to establish a government of the people.
