Blaming the interim government for the country’s current crisis, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said it has betrayed the people.
He said there is no longer any opportunity for a referendum before the election. “The referendum will take place on the election day itself — there will be two ballots, one for the referendum,” he added.
He made the remarks on Friday (October 31) while addressing a discussion marking the 53rd founding anniversary of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) at the National Press Club auditorium in Dhaka.
Addressing the interim government, Fakhrul said, “The commission you formed has been holding discussions on various issues of consensus for about one year and eight to nine months. On many reform-related issues, we reached agreements. On a few matters where differences remained, we submitted ‘notes of dissent.’ That means, although there were disagreements, we achieved consensus on the main issues — that’s the proper process. When we go to the election, these issues will be included in our manifesto. If people vote for us, we will bring those issues to Parliament for approval and bring change to the country. And if they don’t, those issues will naturally drop.”
Accusing the interim government of betraying the people, Fakhrul further said, “I still remember the day when the consensus document was submitted — it was raining on the 17th. Earlier, everything had been in chaos, but we fixed it again, and all political parties signed the document under umbrellas in the rain. But when the document was presented to the Chief Adviser of the interim government, we saw many differences. Especially, the ‘notes of dissent’ we had given were not included. That’s why we said, ‘It’s a breach of trust.’ They broke the bridge of trust and betrayed the people.”
Fakhrul added, “They deceived the people. The credibility we had expected from them was not maintained. Therefore, the interim government is responsible for the ongoing political crisis.”