BNP spent 15 years dreaming of power without elections: Information Minister

Dhaka, November 12, 2023 (BSS): Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Joint General Secretary of Awami League. Hasan Mahmud said, BNP has spent 15 years dreaming of coming to power in an undemocratic way by boycotting elections, I don’t know how many more years will pass.
Lion Muha in the meeting room of his ministry in the secretariat today. He said this in response to questions from journalists after the chief guest’s speech at the unveiling ceremony of the book ‘Samy Anak Bangladeshi’ written by Meezanur Rahman.
In response to a question regarding BNP’s participation in the elections, the minister said, ‘Any political party has the right to participate in the elections or not. They may or may not participate in the election, but no one has the power to prevent the election. Talking about resisting elections means anti-national and anti-democratic talk. Therefore, we will form a resistance on behalf of Awami League against those who make anti-national and anti-democracy statements or make bad attempts.
Hasan Mahmud said, ‘The responsibility of the government, the people and the state is to continue the march of democracy. Whatever needs to be done will be done. And their intention is clear, they want to destroy democracy, create a special situation in the country. BNP has spent 15 years dreaming of coming to power in an undemocratic way by boycotting elections, I don’t know how many more years will pass.’
Information Minister said, ‘We want BNP to participate in the elections. Let their popularity prove what they say. They have so many energetic workers who left the rally ground in 20 minutes. Not even police bullets or tear gas, but the big bet that I used to make when I was a child left the stage. Let’s see how much their employees trust these leaders.’
In response to the question whether BNP will wait for election or not, Hasan Mahmud said, ‘Election Commission is the organization organizing the election. They will give a schedule, the election will be held according to that schedule, and if they come to the election within that period, the election will be held with them. We want them to participate in the elections. If they don’t come, then I think elections must be held to continue the march of democracy in the country. Even if no one party comes, there will be more parties, they will participate, there will be mass participation of the people and there will be a free, fair, internationally acceptable election. They have not come to the city corporations before. But there was massive public participation and those elections were accepted by all.’
Earlier, while unveiling the author, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting thanked the author for writing the book ‘Samya Nak Bangladesh’ and said that it is an exceptional collection of 10 articles on the progress of the country.
Dr. Hasan said, Bangladesh’s time is actually now, because Bangladesh has transformed from the world’s 60th economy to the 35th economy in terms of GDP in 15 years. We are the 31st economy in PPP terms. In this journey, we have not only surpassed Pakistan in terms of economy, we have also surpassed Singapore and Malaysia. We have long surpassed Pakistan in all indicators including economic, social, health and human development. Bangladesh’s per capita income is now around $3,000, which is higher than India’s per capita income.