Dhaka: Taking a swipe at BNP chief Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said her party BNP has no connection with the soil as it was from the leftover of power.
“BNP is a party which was from the leftover of power. So, this party (BNP) is not founded from the soil. The party which was founded from the highest peak of power doesn’t have soil or root beneath its feet,” she said.
The Prime Minister was addressing the joint Iftar and Doa Mahfil 2017 of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at the Jatiya Press Club.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, PM’s Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Secretary General Omar Faruq, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) President Shaban Mahmood also spoke at the programme moderated by DUJ Secretary Sohel Haider Chowdhury.
Coming down heavily on Khaleda’s recent remarks that Awami League has no solid ground beneath its feet, Hasina said, “I want to tell her (Khaleda) that AL was founded back in 1949…it had raised voice about the rights of the distressed and suppressed people of Bangladesh.”
She said AL emerged from the country’s people and soil, and this party has brought independence for the country, recognised the February 21 as the International Mother Language Day and made February 21 as Shaheed Day in 1956.
Criticising Ziaur Rahman again for grabbing power illegally violating the constitution after the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with most of his family members in 1975, Hasina alleged that Zia had introduced the culture of vote rigging in Bangladesh through forming a party.
The Prime Minister alleged that whenever BNP grabbed power, it did nothing for the country as people had to move with beggar’s baskets. “How could they carry out development as they (BNP leaders) are always bogged down with plots to turn Bangladesh into a nation of beggars?”
Referring to the delay made by the BNP chief in appearing before the court by 146 times in the orphanage case, Hasina questioned what’s her fear about appearing before the court?
“I want to categorically say those who had burnt people alive and killed people, should surely have to face the trial as those cases were not filed without any reason. Those (BNP-Jamaat) men killed some 500 innocent people alongside injuring some 3,000 and the trial of them alongside their order givers would surely be held on Bangladesh soil, Insha Allah,” said Hasina.
Like the trial of the War Crimes and the Bangabandhu murder case, the trial of the killers of journalists across the country, including Humayun Kabir Balu, are being held. “We’ll never tolerate injustice …we’ll resist injustice”.unb
