Accusing the government of trying to reestablish a one-party rule, ‘Baksal’, under a different cover, BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Saturday vowed to foil it through a movement together with people.
“The government’s desire to perpetuate power by force and establish an unwritten Baksal rule ignoring people’s opinions wouldn’t be materialised as there’ll be a strong resistance against it by the country’s people,” he said.
The BNP leader came up with the remarks while addressing a discussion organised by BNP marking the 78th birth anniversary of BNP founder late president Ziaur Rahman.
Mosharrf said the ruling party formed a government through a ‘voter-less and candidate-less’ election where there is no existence of the opposition. “They’ve annihilated democracy and made the entire country hostage to the administration being isolated from people. We’ve to pursue the movement to retrieve the country from the grasp of Baksal.”
The former minister claimed that their movement was successful one as the country’s around 95 percent people boycotted the January-5 elections responding to their call.
“People have rejected those who assumed state power by force…The 10th parliamentary elections did not get the acceptability both at home and abroad,” he said.
Terming the election scandalous one, Mosharraf said, “Bangladesh didn’t witness such polls in the past. This parliament is a stigmatised parliament in history. Democracy has been buried with this election.”
He also claimed that the January-5 farcical election has proved that the demand of Khaleda Zia for arranging the general election under a non-party government was right and justified one.
Another standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan said, “We have become the victim of a one-party democracy. The treasury and the opposition benches have got mingled into one. The basic rights of people have been buried. We have to jump into the movement to rescue the democracy.”
Former VC of Dhaka University Emajuddin Ahmed said the struggle is no over rather it will continue to restore democracy.
BNP chairperson adviser Dr Osman Faruk said, “January 5 is a black day for democracy as the farcical national election was held on the day amid massive vote rigging and irregularities under a party administration against the will of the country’s people.”
Former VC of Jahangirnagar University Prof Mostahidur Rahman, Brac University teacher Pias Karim, among others, spoke at the programme.
Source: UNBConnect
