‘Now, Bangladesh has emerged as a role model for development. The country gets dignified when Awami League is in power'
‘Now, Bangladesh has emerged as a role model for development. The country gets dignified when Awami League is in power'“They [the military-supported government] did not even get me checked by doctors. Still I did not lose my morale,” she said.
Hasina was speaking to leaders of the party and its associate bodies as they arrived at her official residence Gonobhaban in Dhaka on Sunday to greet her, marking the 9th anniversary of her release from confinement of the government.
The Awami League chief was arrested from her Sudha Sadan residence at Dhanmondi on July 16 in 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government, which assumed power in the political changeover of 1/11 in 2007, popularly known as “one eleven.”
As she fell sick during her captivity, demands were raised from different quarters including the Awami League and its associate bodies to send her abroad for better medical treatment.
Later, she was released from the special sub-jail on 11 June, 2008, ending an 11-month captivity.
Hasina told her party leaders: “I was outside the country as my daughter was expecting a baby and my daughter-in-law undergoing surgery. But the government threatened to implicate me in cases and said they would issue arrest warrant against me if I return home.
“The government also warned Awami League leaders and workers not to go to airport to receive me… Everybody fled away, but I came back to the country to face the cases. What a silly game they wanted to play!”
The Awami League since its inception has gone through may ups and downs, the premier added.
Alleging that BNP came to power in 2001 with the promise of selling scarce gas resources to foreign companies, Hasina also said the Awami League could not come to power then as the party refused to sell gas.
“…Taking office, BNP resorted to a rule of torment, militancy, terrorism, money laundering, corruption and murder. No one could escape their persecution,” she alleged.
Pointing out the destructive politics of BNP from 2013 to 2015, the prime minister alleged that BNP chief Khaleda Zia wanted to go to power by terrorising and burning people alive.
“But, people chased her from her party office,” she said.
Terming BNP men plunderers, Hasina accused them of making Bangladesh champion in corruption for five consecutive times.
“Now, Bangladesh has emerged as a role model for development. The country gets dignified when Awami League is in power,” she claimed.
Hasina hoped that the countrymen would elect the Awami League again in the next general elections to continue the pace of development.
If there is continuity in development initiatives taken by her government, she said Bangladesh would be a middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041.
