Joy calls for unity in party rank and file
AL to launch mass contact programme soon
Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas ICT affairs adviser, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, has urged all party leaders and workers to close ranks and remain united ahead of the next general elections slated for 2019. Well have to stay united to ensure our partys victory in the next general election. I believe if we remain united and minimise intra-party squabbles, the AL will form the government again, Insh-Allah, AL joint general secretary Abdur Rahman quoted Joy as having said.
Joy said this while speaking to AL central leaders at party chief Sheikh Hasinas new political office at Dhanmondi yesterday after launching a three-day workshop on Role of Members of Parliament in Social Media. When AL general secretary Obaidul Quader asked Joy to take active part in organisational activities, Joy said he will work for the party in his capacity as the Rangpur district AL member. Joy also said he would soon start a mass contact programme from his ancestral district, AL deputy office secretary Biplob Barua told The Independent at the party office.
Joy ensured us that he would take part in the organisational activities in different districts ahead of the next polls, he said.
Joy also urged AL central leaders to work hard by forgetting all misunderstandings ahead of the next general elections. Otherwise, the people will not benefit from the ongoing development works initiated by the Sheikh Hasina-led government, he said. He also told the party leaders to update the partys website and make a database of grassroots leaders to strengthen the party network.
Talking about the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the next general elections, Joy urged the central leaders to build public opinion in favour of EVMs. During informal talks with the party leaders, Joy said the EVM system might be introduced in the next election so that the BNP cannot raise allegations of rigging, capturing of polling booths or snatching of ballot boxes after facing a debacle in the polls.
Inaugurating the workshop, Joy provided necessary tips and guidelines to the partys lawmakers on how to stay connected with the people across the country and even in remote areas using social media.
During the workshop, the ICT expert urged the party MPs to be active in social media to highlight the development activities done by the current dispensation. He told them to keep posting the development activities on their social media pages so that young people do not take any wrong decisions in the next polls.
Even you [MPs] can share my posts in your social media accounts because social media is more powerful than conventional media, he said.
If you are not comfortable with social media, appoint a personal secretary for posting our development activities on the social media, he insisted.
Urging the party lawmakers to be more active in combating propaganda against the the Awami League by highlighting the governments success stories in social media, Joy said: Our lawmakers should convince the people, especially young people active in social media, about the achievements of the current government rather than focusing on self-promotion.
Joy, also the grandson of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, advised the party leaders and workers not to sit idle by assuming that people will cast their votes for them because of the good work.
Its an era of publicity. Well have to publicise what were are doing for the people, he said. Joy highlighted the governments various development activities including distribution of 32 crore copies of textbooks, implementation of Digital Bangladesh, Padma bridge construction and electricity generation.
Barrister Shah Ali Farhad, senior analyst of the Center for Research and Information (CRI) and member of the newly constituted Central Publicity and Publications Sub-Committee of Awami League, gave a presentation on effective social media strategies for parliamentarians and politicians. Some 50 lawmakers of the Awami League took part in the workshop. About 100 others will join today and the day after tomorrow.
AL general secretary Obaidul Quader, general secretary Dr Abdur Razzak, joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif and Abdur Rahman, office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap, organising secretaries Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Muhibul Hasan Chowdhury, and central committee member SM Kamal were also present.
