Staff Reporter :
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has asked the former and incumbent student leaders and workers of Jatiyabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) to be ready for a tougher movement, saying that a decisive movement will be launched soon to topple the present government.
“Remain ready… I will call you anytime for the streets. Come to the streets soon after the call,” she asked them while addressing the day-long convention of the former and incumbent student leaders and workers of JCD, the student wing of BNP, at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in the city on Thursday afternoon. Student leaders of Dhaka University Students’ Union (DUCSU) and All Party Students Unity of the 90s arranged the convention. Elected representatives of the students unions of other colleges and universities of that time also took part in the convention. Former DUCSU VP Aman Ullah Aman chaired the function.
Khaleda Zia said that a tougher movement would be forged like the anti-autocratic movement of 90. “I believe that the student leaders of that time will also come forward to take to the street just after the call,” she said.
She came down heavily on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the comment against her son and BNP’s senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman. The PM on Wednesday termed Tarique a “spoiled son” of Khaleda Zia for his comment against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Issuing a strong warning to Tarique, Sheikh Hasina had advised Khaleda Zia to ask her son to hold his tongue. Tarique Rahman at a function in the UK termed Sheikh Mujib ‘Razakar’.
In reaction, Khaleda Zia also gave such advice asking the PM to restrain her language. “Control your (PM) tongue before advice to others. Tackle your mouth.”
In his inaugural speech, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also came down heavily on the PM. He inaugurated the convention in the morning.
In his speech, he asked Sheikh Hasina to speak cautiously. Expressing his full support to the remarks of Tarique, the BNP spokesperson said that Tarique spoke from the history that makes Awami League furious. Addressing the convention, Khaleda Zia alleged that the government is ruining all the institutions of the country. It has already politicised the administration and judiciary. The judges are now delivering partial judgment, she alleged.
She denied that any government officials met with her earlier in the month and said a panic situation is prevailing in the Secretariat. Referring to media reports that some public servants meet her at her Gulshan office on December 5, she said that the government is blaming the officials to terminate them from service.
She reiterated her demand for holding a fresh election under a non-party administration. If the government does not accept the demand without any delay, it must face the dire consequences, she warned.
About the recent oil tanker capsize in the Sundarbans’ Shela River, Khaleda Zia reiterated the allegation that it was a planned incident in an attempt to destroy the world’s largest mangrove forest and the country’s pride. She also pointed out corruption of the government in different sectors. She criticized the Jubo League and Chhatra League, two wings of the ruling party, for their ‘terrorism’. The country’s people are bored with the terrorism and corruption of the Chhatra League and Jubo League, she claimed.
She also claimed that the economic situation of the country is now very bad and said, “Although the country’s economic situation is going to worse day by day, the government is exporting and importing rice. It is one kind of cheating with the country’s people.”
Speaking at the meeting, the former student leaders expressed their annoyance over the role of BNP’s senior leaders and the leaders of Dhaka city. They alleged that the central leaders and leaders of the Dhaka city are busy to save their wealth instead of movement.
Claiming them that sycophants, reformists, businessmen and bureaucrats are now dominating the party, they called for saving the BNP from the interest seekers. They also spoke against the “Gulshan syndicate’. Farhad Iqbal, a former student leader of Tangail, said that the BNP couldn’t be succeeded due to the inactive role of the party’s Dhaka city unit.
Motahar Hossain of Mymensingh called for forming a strong committee for the Dhaka city BNP.
