The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will wait for the government's response to its demand for the scrapping of the 1,320-MW Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans before launching an agitation against it. “Since we have put forward a demand, we will wait to see the government's response to it…Whether we will oppose it (the power plant) by taking to the streets depends on the government’s attitude,” said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
He was talking to reporters after placing a wreath at the mazar of late president Ziaur Rahman in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar to mark the founding anniversary of the Jatiyatabadi Muktijoddha Dal. Earlier, on Wednesday, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at a press conference described the proposed Rampal coal-fired power plant project as “anti-people, illogical and unprofitable”, and urged the government to scrap it.
Alamgir said they had already extended their support to the movements of different political parties and social organisations against the plant’s construction.  “We support their movement. Now, the BNP is watching what steps the government takes on the Rampal issue,” he added.
When his attention was drawn to the allegations of ruling Awami League (AL) leaders that the BNP was creating a new issue by opposing the Rampal project, the senior BNP leader said the AL has created so many issues, making it unnecessary for the BNP to create a new one. Alamgir also accused the AL of throwing up new issues to divert people’s attention from their misdeeds.
BNP joint secretary general Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and the president of Muktijoddha Dal, Ishtiaque Aziz Ulfat, among others, accompanied him.
He reiterated that the construction of the Rampal power plant near the world’s largest mangrove forest would harm the nation and the environment.
“We want more power generation but not at the expense of the Sundarbans. There are many places to set up such power plants and alternative ways, but there is no alternative to the Sundarbans,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dhaka University’s former vice chancellor, Prof. Emajuddin Ahmed, at a roundtable at the Jatiya Press Club asked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to explain why she was so weak when it came to India.
“We have given them many (things)… How much more do we have to give them?” he asked while speaking at the event.
The pro-BNP intellectual further said there was no limit to the Prime Minister’s weakness for India and urged her to shun this mentality.
Describing the Rampal power plant as a project harmful for the Sundarbans, he called upon the government to scrap it and focus on solar power.