Salim Osman plays religion card again
Jatiya Party lawmaker Salim Osman has once again used religion to defend his action to humiliate Narayanganj school headmaster Shyamal Kanti Bhakta.
At a “view-exchange meeting” at the Narayanganj Club, the controversial MP termed the schoolteacher an atheist and advised all not to call him a Hindu.
He claimed he was a victim of the incident, and became angry when journalists wanted to know what happened that day (May 13).
Pointing at the audience, Salim asked journalists to better ask the people if he had done any injustice towards the headmaster, who is now being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital for injuries he suffered from physical assaults.
"Yes, I have made a mistake. I have forced a man to do squats holding his ears. But it is the man who insulted Allah.
"Even if I have to walk the gallows for punishing the person who insulted Allah and for fulfilling the desire of the locals, I am ready to do so,” he said.
However, the probe committee formed by the education ministry found no evidence whatsoever that the teacher has said anything critical of Islam or Allah.
In over a three-hour speech in two sessions, Salim lambasted Health Minister Mohammad Nasim for his remarks that the JP MP should refrain from joining the upcoming session of the House if he had “any shame”.
Mentioning Nasim's name several times, Salim said: "I don't know who runs parliament -- Speaker or someone else?"
He said Nasim was like his “elder brother,” and added: "I offer my apology to you. But don't ask me to offer an apology to anybody else."
Although it was a “view-exchange” meeting, there was only one chair on the stage and almost everybody in the audience was Salim's man, locals said.
Further defending his action, Salim pointed the finger at Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader. He sought to know how a minister (Quader) could force a CNG-run autorickshaw driver to do squats holding his ears without drawing any public ire.
The JP MP said that Baitaul Aman, Chasara, in Narayanganj was the birthplace of the ruling Awami League where he now lived.
About a press conference that he postponed on Tuesday, Salim said party chief HM Ershad had requested him not to hold the briefing.
"Hussain Mohammad Ershad, whom I honour like my father, had phoned me and said: 'You have become an Oly [a pious man]. Do you know that the people of Bangla and crores of people are praying for you in mosques? You don't need to say anything more about the matter.'"
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