Acting Chairman of BNP Tariq Rahman said that BNP wants to re-attach the caretaker government system to the constitution to restore the voting rights of the people.
He said this at the Khulna division meeting on Monday (September 2) as part of a series of discussions with Trinamool leaders and activists.
Tariq Rahman said, ‘Bangladesh belongs to the people of this country and it is their fair democratic right to elect representatives through the exercise of voting rights. To ensure free and fair elections in the country, in 1996, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP added a caretaker government system to the constitution instead of a party government to ensure people’s right to vote. But with the aim of axing power and depriving the people of voting rights, the dictatorial Hasina government deleted it from the constitution and deprived the people of voting rights in three national elections. We want to re-incorporate the caretaker government system into the constitution to restore the people’s right to vote.’
He said, ‘BNP does politics with the aim of fulfilling the expectations of the common people of the country. Security of people, freedom of speech, right to do business and trade in peace, employment of youth and youth, dignity and security of women, ensuring equal state rights for all irrespective of religion, caste, caste, group, plains and hills, establishing rule of law in the country, judicial act. Bringing the balance of power between the executive department, ensuring health facilities for all, getting fair prices for agricultural products and above all ensuring the independence and sovereignty of the country is the priority of BNP politics.
He said with emotion, ‘The house where the martyred President Ziaur Rahman lived, the house where every inch of his and his brother’s childhood memories are intertwined, the house that witnessed the beginning of his mother’s family and the pain of widowhood, how disrespectful to the country’s leader Begum Khaleda Zia. He was unjustly evicted, the countrymen saw that. Without treatment, his only brother had to die of abject neglect, similarly millions of party grassroots leaders had to live a dehumanized life, plagued by lawsuits and attacks, abandoning families, losing businesses and jobs – either in jail or in hiding. And countless leaders and activists have sacrificed their lives with the dream of establishing the country in love and democracy.
Even then, he thanked the Trinamool and said, ‘Just as they do not believe in revenge like in the past, he and the party’s national leader Begum Khaleda Zia also know that the people of the country have been living in a large prison called Bangladesh for the last 17 years. So today, not by violence, but by fulfilling the expectations of the people of the country, we have to set an example by responding to all the injustices of the past.’
He said, ‘BNP has gained the trust and love of the people today by enduring agitations, struggles, sacrifices and deprivations for years. The trust and expectations of the people will be damaged by the handiwork of some deviants in the party – it will not be tolerated in any way – whoever he is. Why not.’
Addressing the gathering, Tariq Rahman said, ‘You identify those who destroy the image of the party, prevent them, the party is not only promising to expel them, but also to take legal action against them.’
He reiterated his immense trust in the party’s grassroots and gave an example of one-eleven, saying, ‘The grassroots were the strength of BNP during all the crises of the party, they have held the party with steel unity despite hundreds of temptations and torture.’
“If the Trinamool is together, the party will be able to deal with any situation and it will be much easier for him to manage the party,” he said.
He pointed out the main points of the 31-point program of reforming the state structure to meet the expectations of the people and to build a modern Bangladesh, and directed this message to reach all the marginal people of the country.
He called on the visible opponent Awami League to be vigilant and united to face the numerous invisible opponents and said, ‘The fall of dictatorship is only an initial victory, the real test is ahead as a result of complacency and all laxity, we must pass the test of the future and give support and love to the party of the people of Bangladesh.