January 5 polls anniversary
Day of BNPs political suicide, says AL
STAFF REPORTER
The much-talked-about Jan 5, the voting day anniversary of the 10th parliamentary election, passed almost silently, as the Awami League-led government denied its arch rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), permission to hold any rally in the capital, Dhaka. Though many, including political experts, thought the countrys political arena would get heated again around Jan 5, as both the ruling AL and BNP planned counter programmes over the issue, the Sheikh Hasina-led administration did not allow BNP leaders and workers to take to the streets.
The Jan 5 elections were held in 2014, boycotted by the BNP, leading to some 153 AL candidates being elected unopposed in that election. Since then, the BNP has been observing Jan 5 as the Democracy Killing Day, while the AL observes the day as the Victory Day of Democracy.
This year, the ruling Awami League held two discussion events in the city to mark the day.
Speaking at a discussion organized by the Dhaka North City Unit of the AL in front of the partys central office at Bangabandhu Avenue, its general secretary Obaidul Quader dubbed Jan 5 as the day of political suicide committed by the BNP. It is not the Democracy Killing Day, as the BNP
claims. It is the day of political suicide by BNP, Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said. The AL general secretary said Jan 5 was a very crucial day in the countrys history. He maintained that had the then Sheikh Hasina government not arranged the 10th parliamentary election on that day, the countrys constitutional continuation would have been hampered and its new democracy would have stumbled with an unconstitutional government assuming power.
He said the Election Commission would not wait for the BNP to hold the next polls. The next polls would be held on time in line with the countrys constitution, even if the BNP were to stay away from the polls.
If the BNP were to repeat the same mistake, it would become as insignificant as the Muslim League, he said.
Criticizing the BNP leaders, Quader said the BNP would not be able to forge any movement in future, as its leaders and workers do not follow the instructions of their party high-ups.
In a separate programme, AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was hatching a conspiracy to create unrest in the country to save herself from being punished in a court verdict.
Khaleda Zia wants to fish in troubled waters as she knows she would be awarded punishment for embezzling money of orphans, he told an Alem Olama rally organized by the Bangladesh United Islamic Party at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan.
Hanif, also a spokesperson of the AL, said the BNP wanted to hold a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan with a view to creating a chaotic situation in the country.
