Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said the BNP’s demonstration over the electricity crisis is the greatest joke of the year.

He made the remarks while addressing a press briefing at his secretariat office in the morning.

Quader said BNP leaders are not looking at the recent trend of the world economy, adverse impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and post-Covid economic recovery but they are only seeing the so-called failure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government and dreaming of assuming power.

The BNP’s politics is now running following the ostrich policy, he added.

The Awami League general secretary said the BNP is hiding itself in the sand of global crisis and continues making its poisonous statement against the government.

The BNP has no novelty in its politics and there is no thought for the welfare of the people, he said.

He said the BNP announced the demonstration and it was allowed to do so as it is the democratic right of the party.

But, the Awami League general secretary, warned if any attempt is made to create anarchy and disrupt peace in the name of protest, the government will handle it with an iron hand considering the public interest.

Referring to the BNP leaders’ talks about electoral democracy, he questioned: “I want to know from BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir – what type of electoral democracy is it that one does not go to parliament after being elected?”

Quader asked the BNP leaders to look at their own faces in the mirror first and then start practicing democracy in their party.

He said the BNP’s politics hidden behind the mask of democracy is a hideous combination of racial fascism and a looting system.

Becky Adda-Dontoh, peace and development advisor at United Nations Bangladesh, was present on the occasion.