Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the anti-discrimination student movement, warned secretaries and bureaucrats that the secretariat should not end up like Ganabhaban and Dhanmondi No. 32.
He made these remarks during a live broadcast from his verified Facebook page on Friday (February 7).
Hasnat Abdullah said, ‘The Awami League has used you as a tool. You are coming to serve the people. You are committed to the people, not to the political party – keep this in mind. If you think that by sitting in the secretariat, you will maintain good relations with Dhanmondi and India. Then just as the Awami League has been made irrelevant in Bangladesh, you will be made irrelevant in the same way.’
He said, ‘Work for the people, realize the power of the people. I would like very much – that the outcome of Dhanmondi 32 should not be the same as the Secretariat. I would like very much, I would like from my heart – whether this year, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now, the Secretariat should not end up like Ganabhaban. So learn, learn from Dhanmondi 32, learn from Ganabhaban.’
He also said, ‘After August 5, the Awami League is enjoying the most freedom. You can understand it by looking at their comments. They are enjoying the freedom to threaten in comments on social media. The threats and intimidation are still ongoing. There is no minimum sense of sorry within the Awami League. House number 32 should have been demolished on August 5 itself, which everyone did spontaneously later.’
At that time, Hasnat Abdullah called for not damaging national resources and said, “The next Bangladesh is ours. We, who have overthrown fascism, this Bangladesh is ours.”