2 accused now at BNP�s helm, says PM
Zia, Ershad, Khaleda tried to ban Bangabandhu�s March 7 speech, she alleges
UNB
Describing the reelection of Khaleda Zia as BNP chairperson and Tarique Rahman as its senior vice chairman as a stage-managed drama, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said now two accused are this partys top leaders, reports UNB. Whom they (BNP) have actually elected -- there two accused, one (Khaleda) is an accused in a case of misappropriating orphans money and another (Tarique) in the Aug 21 grenade case and his (Tariques) name is also there in Interpols wanted list if this is the case, what this party can deliver! she wondered. Sheikh Hasina, also the President of the ruling Awami League, was addressing a mammoth public rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan in the city marking the historic March 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She alleged that Tarique Rahman has remained absconding in cases filed against him for money laundering and corruption. He (Tarique) is now a senior BNP leader! Earlier on Sunday, Khaleda Zia has been reelected BNP chairperson unopposed, while her son Tarique Rahman reelected the partys senior vice chairman before the partys national council session. Both of them were reelected as no one else filed nomination to contest the elections to the posts. The Awami League organized the rally with Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair. Referring to the higher court verdict that declared illegal the grabbing of power by Ziaur Rahman, Hasina questioned what can BNP deliver since it is formed by a usurper. Theyve tainted the politics of the country.
She alleged that although Zia claimed himself a gallantry award-winning freedom fighter, he had actually acted as pimp of the defeated forces as he released the convicted war criminals from jail after the assassination of the Father of the Nation with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
Hasina also alleged that Zia had rehabilitated the war criminals, brought back Ghulam Azam and other war criminals who had opted for having Pakistani passports. Later, his wife, Khaleda, followed his footprints as she made war criminals as her Cabinet members.
The Prime Minister alleged that for long 21 years -- from 1975 to 1996 -- all conspiracies were hatched to destroy Bangladesh. Turning to the countrywide mayhem unleashed by BNP-Jamaat killing and burning hundreds of people to death to foil the January-5 polls and then again for three months in 2015, she said the people of Bangladesh had never surrendered before arson terrorism as put up a strong resistance. She said that the movement of BNP is only to destroy the spirit of the Liberation War, deter the economic development of the country. She (Khaleda) cant tolerate Bangladeshs march forward.
Alleging that BNP had never wanted Bangladesh to be self-sufficient in food, Hasina said her AL governments stance is not to move ahead begging from others, but to stand on its own feet with dignity. The Prime Minister sought cooperation from all in building the country imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War and urged the youth to groom themselves as honest and hard-working force since they are the future of the nation. Turning to the historic 7th March speech of Father of the Nation, Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, said the 7th March speech was not only a speech, rather it was a holistic plan to build an independent country. She said Bangabandhus 7th March speech is now globally acclaimed as it is one of those speeches of around 2,500 years which had inspired any nation for attaining independence.
Hasina said this speech has so far been translated into 12 languages while works are on to translate it into more languages. But, Zia, then Ershad and then Khaleda had tried time and again to ban this speech. Voicing her strong vow to move the country ahead, overcoming all the obstacles, she said, Its our pledge on this day that Father of the Nation had showed us the path and now well be able to materialise his dreams, Insha Allah. The Prime Minister said it was Bangabandhus biggest success that he had given an independent country to the nation and thus put it on a global stage as a dignified nation.
AL Advisory Council Member and Industries Minster Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, AL Presidium Member and Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Selim, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, AL General Secretary and Minister for Public Administration Syed Ashraful Islam, AL Presidium Member and Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, AL Joint General Secretaries Mahbub ul Alam Hanif and Dr Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, AL City Unit General Secretary and Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury, AL Organising Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Food Minister Advocate Qumrul Islam, AKM Rahmatullah, MP, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq and Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon, among others, spoke at the rally. AL Publicity Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud conducted the rally.
