Grassroots leaders advise BNP brass for strong demo
Staff Reporter
Grassroots leaders of the BNP yesterday called upon the partys central leaders to wage a strong movement to free Khaleda Zia and force the government to hold the next general elections under a neutral administration. In a closed-door meeting with the central leaders, the grassroots leaders from four organisational divisions expressed frustration over the performance of the BNPs Dhaka city units in carrying out party programmes, according to sources.
The grassroots leaders from Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barishal also expressed resentment over the role of Jamaat-e-Islami, a major partner of the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance, particularly for its participation in the Sylhet city corporation polls.
Some leaders termed Jamaat as a barrier to national unity, saying the BNP did not need to keep the outfit in the alliance. They also said BNP leaders and workers must intensify party activities in their respective districts and prepare for a movement to realise their demands.
The meeting was chaired by BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. This was the first time that the BNP had arranged two-day closed door meetings with grassroots leaders at the party chairpersons Gulshan office to hear their views before taking the next course of action ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary polls.
Party sources said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman had instructed Fakhrul to convene meetings with the district leaders.
The BNP, which had boycotted the last general election in 2014, reportedly plans to take to the streets next month to
pressurise the government to free Khaleda from prison. Party presidents, senior vice-presidents, secretaries, senior joint secretaries and organising secretaries of each district under Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barishal divisions joined the first day of meetings yesterday.
Meetings with the leaders from the other districts under Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Cumilla, Mymensingh and Faridpur divisions will be held today at the same venue, party sources said.
The meeting of Chittagong, Sylhet and Cumilla divisions would be held at 9 am today and that with the leaders from Dhaka, Mymensingh and Faridpur divisions is scheduled for 3 pm.
BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who was present at the meeting, said mostly organisational matters in the respective districts were discussed. The grassroots leaders gave their opinions to strengthen the party and focused on different organisational problems, he added.
A movement to free the party chairperson was also discussed, he said.
A BNP leader from Thakurgaon said besides organisational matters, the partys future course of action and participation in the general election were also discussed.
Senior BNP leaders Dr Abdul Moin Khan, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie and Taiful Islam Tipu were among those present at the meeting.
Also yesterday, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed told a discussion meeting at Jatiya Press Club that innocent students did not believe in the assurances of the Prime Minister and the home minister as they had deceived the students on the quota issue.
He termed the ongoing students agitation for safer roads as a spontaneous outburst of the peoples resentment. He also said the BNP would compel the government to sit for talks to resolve the current political impasse.
The Bangladesh Labour Party organised the meeting, which was chaired by its president Mostafizur Rahman Iran.
In another development, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabri Rizvi accused shipping minister Shajahan Khan of provoking the transport workers to go for a wildcat strike across the country.
Speaking at a press conference, Rizvi greeted the students for successfully highlighting the most important problems and mismanagements in the transport sector.
