Unb, Dhaka :BNP founding secretary general Dr AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury has asked BNP leaders to change themselves first if they want to change the country.”If you (BNP leaders) want to change the country, you need to change yourselves first,” he said while addressing a discussion in presence of the BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Thursday.BNP arranged the discussion at the Engineers’ Institute marking the 34th death anniversary of BNP founder late President Ziaur Rahman.Noting that the country abounds with corruptions and anomalies, the former president said, “If you (BNP leaders) make mistakes, history will also not pardon you.”Recalling Zia’s contribution, B Chowdhury said, “We’ve forgotten Ziaur Rahman’s ideology. He loved the country and its people.”BNP standing committee members Moudud Ahmed, ASM Hannan Shah, Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, BNP joint secretary general M Shahjahan, BNP chairperson’s advisers Barrister Shahjahan Omar and Shawkat Mahmud and former Vice-Chancellor of Jahangirnagar University Prof Khandaker Mustahidur Rahman also spoke on the occasion. BNP vice chairman Abdullah Al Noman presided over the discussion, moderated by BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.Dr Zafarullah Chowdhury lambasted the party leaders and activists for the sorry state of BNP and the cowardice that prevents them from protesting the government’s “misrule and injustice.””If you [BNP] want change, then leave the politics of greediness and looting. And do not flatter Khaleda Zia. When you speak [at any programme in presence of Khaleda], you always flatter her saying the three-time prime minister. Don’t say what she was in the past, rather say about her future,” he said.Dr Zafarullah also said there is a standing committee as well as a national executive committee in BNP but “they are sleeping all the time.””BNP leaders raised hue and cry to show their faces before Khaleda Zia when she remains present at any programme. The rest of the time, they remain asleep in their homes,” he added.Moudud Ahmed said almost no democracy exists in Bangladesh now. In its place, a ‘political vacuum’ is now prevailing in the country, he said.”Today it should be our only goal or programme that all nationalist forces being united under leadership of Begum Khaleda Zia will have to restore democracy in the country. Otherwise, fascism and militancy will rise,” he said.Recalling Ziaur Rahman’s contribution to the country, he said the slain president’s role amid the political crisis of the second half of the 1970s will be etched in the history of Bangladesh in golden letters.”He restored the democracy in the country. That is his biggest contribution. His contribution will be remembered throughout the ages in Bangladesh,” said Moudud.ASM Hannan Shah said they should feel ashamed for their failure to uphold the ideology of Ziaur Rahman. “This is why it should be our promise to uphold his ideology.”Abdullah Al Noman added his voice to the calls for the party to be “reorganized”.
