The ruling Awami League will no longer be allowed to play games with elections, said BNP leaders addressing a mammoth rally in Faridpur yesterday.
Even though the district was virtually cut off from the rest of the country ahead of the event, thousands of activists managed to get there.
“In the last two elections, you [the AL] played an election game and came to power by deceiving the public and telling them lies. But this time, we have turned around, and so have the people. This time, there will be no election unless a caretaker government is formed,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the rally on the premises of Komorpur Abdul Aziz Institution.
“Our back is against the wall because of the repression, torture and attacks. We will now forge ahead and won’t back down.”
He then asked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down from office, dissolve the parliament and hand over the power to a caretaker government that will hold an acceptable election under a new election commission.
A large number of law enforcers was present across Faridpur, considered a stronghold of the AL.
The rally started at 2:00pm, but thousands of activists started gathering at the venue, about six kilometres away from Faridpur town, early in the morning,
From 10:00am till the evening, the mobile internet service remained suspended in the town.
As police at Rajbari intersection restricted the flow of traffic towards the venue from the morning till around 2:00pm, large groups of supporters had to walk for two kilometres to join the event.
Despite the 38-hour bus strike that began on Friday morning, thousands of supporters made it from Faridpur, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Madaripur and Gopalganj. Many spent two to three nights under the open sky at the venue.
But with the day progressing and the sun beating down on them, the crowd started getting thinner about an hour before the rally.
Besides, crowd fights erupted twice during the rally. But it could not be known which groups started them because the activists were very tight-lipped about the matter.
BNP leaders alleged that law enforcers stopped many of the activists from entering the town for the rally.
In his speech, Fakhrul thanked the people for making the rally a success: “You did it to restore democracy and people’s voting and other rights. The government destroyed politics, economy and the country as a whole just to cling to power by force. People are waking up to claim their rights.”
Referring to AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader’s recent remarks that the AL will give democracy an institutional shape, he said, “Could you tell us what your definition of democracy is? … You’re talking about giving it an institutional shape after obliterating it and snatching people’s rights.”
The government keeps BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia under house arrest out of fear. “But they freed casino kingpin Samrat who joined the Jubo League rally at Suhrawardy Udyan [on Friday].”
Arresting BNP leaders and activists in false cases is part of an old game, he said. “You want to stay in power by any means, but that won’t happen this time.”
Saying “this anarchy” should end, he added, “We want to give independence back to the judiciary and administration and stop corruption.”
BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas said that through this massive gathering, the people of Faridpur gave the government a “fitting reply to its misrule and failure to control the prices of essentials” .
He said the suspension of the mobile internet was a sign that the government was scared, and added that the government allowed laundering of money out of the country.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, another standing committee member, said the people of Faridpur sent the message that they would lead the anti-government movement in the coming days.
He added that the ruling AL had started holding programmes all of a sudden just to counter the BNP’s events.
The ruling party brought people by hiring buses and offering them money and food, he said.
BNP leader Tabith Awal urged the youth to come forward and join the movement.
The party is holding rallies protesting the rising prices of essentials and fuel and demanding the release of Khaleda Zia.
Faridpur BNP Convener AFM Kaium Jongi chaired the rally.
