BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy has asked for a ‘poll to determine the correct number’ of Liberation War martyrs, throwing his support to party chief Khaleda Zia’s doubt over the figure.
Another leader of the party, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, said ‘Awami intellectuals’ are criticising Khaleda because there is a ‘lack of information’ on the figure.
The two BNP leaders made the remarks in a discussion on Friday amidst sharp criticism over Khaleda’s comments on the matter.
“I ask journalists to take the line from someone’s comments and conduct an opinion poll on it…ask the people to send text messages of the addresses of those who died in their villages during the war in 1971,” Roy said.
“Besides those shot dead by the Pakistanis, there were also natural deaths. Then you’ll get the data point,” he said.
“There is no need to debate on the issue,” he added.
In a discussion on Dec 21, BNP Chief Khaleda said, “Today, it is said that some hundreds of thousands were martyred. There is a debate about how many hundreds of thousands were martyred in the Liberation War. Different books give different accounts.”
Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee has urged her to withdraw the comments and apologise.
A lawyer has sent her a legal notice asking her to withdraw the comments.
A court in Narhail has ordered a judicial probe in a case filed on the issue.
BNP Standing Committee Member Roy, speaking at the National Press Club, also criticised the observation of Martyred Intellectuals Day to mourn the killings of the Bengalee heroes during the war.
In his opinion, the intellectuals were killed like ‘fools’ on Dec 14, 1971.
Supporting Khaleda’s remarks, he said, “Begum Khaleda Zia said there is a debate. She didn’t say the number was smaller or larger. The debate was placed in Parliament in 1991. Late MP Colonel Akbar Hossain raised the issue.”
Hossain was in Khaleda’s cabinet during her tenure as prime minister from 1991 to 1996. He was made a minister again when the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government was formed in 2001.
“The number of Liberation War martyrs is not an aphorism that cannot be changed,” Roy said.
“What Sheikh Sahib (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) said at Heathrow Airport was not something as absolute as his speech – ‘The struggle this time is for our independence’,” he said.
“He turned 3 lakh into 3 million (30 lakh) out of ignorance. Someone hurriedly whispered into his ear and he uttered the words hastily. And we took this as a term – ’30 lakh’,” he added.
The BNP leader criticised the use of ‘3 million’ to indicate the number of Liberation War martyrs ‘without any verification’. However, Khaleda Zia, in her speeches as a prime minister, had frequently used the reference herself.
Source: bdnews24
Would someone please put a stopper on mr GC Roy’s mouth, making 30 lac shaheed into 3 lacs !!. We do not need this debate after 43 yrs. There are plenty of bigger issues to debate & try solve.
Open the Pandora’s box & you will be flooded with endless debate on who declared independence first & when, who wanted to be Pak PM, if Zia was a genuine fighter or not, why the the original tenants of declaration of independence remain unresolved, why the map was removed from the flag; the list can go on.
Let’s move on from where we have landed ourselves into now, by choice or by destiny !!.
Let’s not be a dalal of Pakistan nor a dalal of India.
Let’s be Bangladeshi first & Bangladeshi last.
Joy Bangla.