BNP is not worried about leadership

The BNP leaders and activists are being arrested and sued across the country in the ongoing movement of the final stage of one-sided demand. Every day many leaders and activists from the top to the grassroots of the party are being arrested. Apart from that, the leaders and activists fear that various activities may be carried out by the ruling party to break the BNP around the election. In this case, they think that some leaders can be talked about various benefits including money or temptation to win the election. However, BNP High Command and Trinamool leaders and activists said that they are not worried about the conspiracy of division within the party and the next leadership. Rather, they are planning to proceed with the final movement to realize their one-sided demands.

It has been seen that when a Trinamool leader is arrested, the next leader is given the responsibility. They want to gain success by accelerating the ongoing movement of one party. However, some leaders and activists of Trinamool BNP also expressed doubts about the upcoming program amid the fear of arrests and lawsuits. They say that the workers are disoriented due to the fear of mass arrests and lawsuits. Even if the directive comes from the center in unfavorable situation, it has to be coordinated at the local level. Because many of the leaders who were once vocal in the party program are trying to remain a safe haven in the ongoing crisis.

The president and general secretary of BNP in several districts and upazilas including Jhenaidah, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Netrokona, Cox’s Bazar, Jamalpur said that they are usually unable to stay at home due to false police cases. The police are doing house to house searches and arrests every day. The activists are running away to avoid arrest.

The policy makers of BNP claim that mass arrests are going on across the country after October 28. In many cases, even though there are no cases, BNP leaders and activists are being caught and arrested later with cases or in old cases. In some places, cases are being filed in the name of dead and imprisoned persons. In such a situation, BNP party offices are being closed in almost all areas of the country. Many activists have taken refuge with relatives or acquaintances to avoid arrest. The police and law enforcement officers are threatening their relatives if they do not catch the activists. In many cases, elderly fathers, brothers and even father-in-laws are arrested if the accused is not found. However, the party’s high command feels that by arresting and prosecuting the leaders and activists who are thinking of wiping out the BNP, their purpose will not succeed.

BNP international affairs co-editor Dr. Shakirul Islam Khan Shakil told Kalbela that the attacks, cases and arrests of the party’s leaders and workers across the country despite giving a peaceful program prove that this government’s intentions are different. 95 percent of the country’s public opinion is in favor of BNP. Not only that, the whole world including the United Nations is calling for free, fair and acceptable elections in Bangladesh. But the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent statement seems that she wants to organize a one-sided election again. In this case, his loyal police-administration has come to the field with all its might to evict the opposition parties. They are planning to steal votes with a new formula in the old way. Despite all this, BNP will not step into any trap of the government.

BNP National Executive Committee member Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan told Milton Kalbela that we cannot be suppressed by assaults, cases and arrests. We will not sit still. I will continue the movement until the fall of the government and I will be successful inshallah.

Noakhali District BNP Advisory Engineer Amirul Momin Bablu said that no matter how much torture and persecution comes, there will be no crisis in the leadership of BNP. Our leader Khaleda Zia is seriously ill and undergoing treatment in the hospital. The Acting Chairman is abroad under the government’s wrath. BNP is running under his leadership. Every grassroots worker of BNP is ready to lead under his instructions. Almost all party leaders are united now.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that the government has once again started a conspiracy aimed at one-sided parliamentary elections. However, the people are determined to get their demands through the movement. Soon this illegal government will fall. The leadership of BNP cannot be weakened. The last person from BNP to be out of jail will lead the movement.

Meanwhile, the central office of BNP in Dhaka’s Nayapaltan has become staffless. There the main gate is still locked. The party chairperson’s political office in Gulshan is also closed. At present, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of BNP (in-charge of office) is carrying out the responsibility of announcing the official decision of the party. To avoid arrest, he held a virtual press conference to announce the party’s decision. In a press conference on Monday afternoon yesterday, he presented the picture of arrests and cases of activists across the country. He said that more than 275 activists have been arrested in the last 24 hours. More than 995 activists have been accused in various cases. There have been 10 cases in total. Apart from this, more than 5 thousand 559 activists have been arrested since October 28. During this time more than 132 cases have been filed and the total number of defendants is 40 thousand 615. A total of 6,000 people were injured and 10 people, including a journalist, died.

The professor of government and politics department of Jahangirnagar University thinks that holding the leaders and activists of the opposition parties like this is an obstacle for the fair environment of the elections. Md. Shamshul Alam Salim. He told Kalbela, if this continues, there will not be a fair election environment. There could be an election like North Korea. For a fair election, there must be equal opportunities for all. However, he thinks that there is no possibility of dialogue to deal with the crisis in the current situation.

The BNP started a simultaneous movement with various parties and alliances on July 12 to demand the resignation of the government. After that, road marches, padayatras, mass marches, black flag marches, sit-in programs, protest-meetings and other programs were held all over the country including Dhaka for three consecutive months. BNP and Jugpat members held a mass meeting in Dhaka on July 28 and staged a sit-in at the entrances of Dhaka the next day. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the program of the general meeting in Dhaka on October 28 in continuation of the movement. On that day, the BNP leaders and activists clashed with the police, and the mass meeting ended. However, some areas including Nayapaltan turned into a battlefield in the BNP’s clash with the police in the capital that day. Casualties also occur. Since then, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul, Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and many other top leaders have been arrested one by one. In the last two days, BNP Vice Chairman Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Shahjahan Omar, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Organizing Secretary Emran Saleh Prince have been arrested.