Major opposition parties said that the people of Bangladesh would reject the new government formed through a ‘one-sided farcical election’ held on January 7.
Most opposition parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the election, in which the ruling Awami League secured its fourth consecutive term with 222 seats.
A 37-member cabinet, led by Awami League president Sheikh Hasina as prime minister, was sworn in at Bangabhaban on Thursday evening.
Before the oath-taking ceremony, at a press conference in its Naya Paltan central office, BNP standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan said that the people of Bangladesh not only boycotted the January 7 election but also the government that formed through the polls.
He said that the BNP would peacefully continue its movement to restore democracy. The democratic world has already termed the election a farce and a faulty one, he said.
Revolutionary Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haque told New Age that people rejected the ‘dummy’ polls and expressed no confidence in the government, so the parliament and government formed through such elections would not get political and moral legitimacy.
The country’s people rejected the election and did not accept the poll results, he said.
Bangladesh will start its new journey on the way of one-party rule through the formation of the government by saying farewell to multi-party democracy in the country, he said, adding that the country is marching towards an authoritarian government.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince told New Age that most people boycotted the January 7 election, which was one-sided, and people thought it was farcical.
‘The government arranged the polls to extend its tenure. We think those who were elected in the polls have no moral rights or moral legality to form the government,’ he said.
‘So, they should ensure a fair and participatory election under a natural government after discussion with the agitating political parties immediately. Otherwise, the ongoing misrule will increase further, and the country’s crisis will also increase,’ Prince added.
Nagarik Oikya president Mahmudur Rahman Manna said that the government would not get accepted politically and ethically at home and abroad.
‘Most of the countries, including the United States, said that the January 7 election was not an election. The democratic world is with us, and they will give us strength to achieve victory.’
‘We are waging a simultaneous movement against the government, and it will continue.’
Gono Forum faction general secretary Subrata Chowdhury told New Age that a fake election was held on January 7, and now a fake cabinet has been formed that has no connection with the people of the country.
Terming the Sheikh Hasina government as a ‘Mafia’ government, he said that the government had grabbed state power for the past 15 years, pretending falsely that people had elected them. It is cheating on people as well as the constitution.’
Subrata also said that the government held the election through their subservient election commission. The people will not accept such an election and the government.’
Islami Andolan Bangladesh senior joint secretary general Gazi Ataur Rahman said, ‘Sheikh Hasina cannot take a moral oath and form a government as they were elected in the polls by cheating with the people, and most of the people rejected the polls.’
He said that there was also a question about the legality of taking the oath of office as the tenure of the 11th parliament was yet to be completed.
‘We think the oath is not legal because the new lawmakers and ministers took the oath without dissolving the current parliament,’ he said.
Sheikh Hasina was an illegal prime minister, and now again she is taking the oath as prime minister illegally, said the IAB leader.
Gono Odhikar Parishad president Nurul Haque Nur said, ‘We think AL politically died through holding the staged election on January 7, where people did not cast votes.’
He said, ‘If AL thinks of them as mature political parties, then they will go for a fresh election through negotiation with the political parties immediately.’
‘Although they [AL] are forming the new government, they will not be able to continue the government’s tenure for five years amid the ongoing movement of opposition parties, the financial crisis, and the international crisis.’
Mojibur Rahman Monju, member secretary of the AB Party, said 95 per cent of voters rejected the farcical and one-sided January 7 election.
The illegal regime would only materialise the dreams of their party people. He called upon the nation to unite against corruption and the misrule of the government.
New Age
