Marking January 5: BNP may settle for Nayapaltan as rally venue
The BNP would like to hold today's rally marking its "democracy killing day" in front of its Nayapaltan office if the authorities did not grant it permission to hold it at Suhrawardy Udyan.
"We are prepared to hold the rally in front of our party's central office, if we are denied permission [to hold the rally] at Suhrawardy Udyan," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a preparatory meeting ahead of the rally at Bhasani Bhaban yesterday.
The party is awaiting the authorities' permission for holding the rally today at Suhrawardy Udyan to protest the January 5, 2014 general elections.
Fakhrul, however, said he hoped the government would make a gesture of goodwill by granting the permission to BNP for holding the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The Awami League is afraid of the people and they do not believe in democracy. That is why they deprive the opposition parties of their rights to hold rallies and processions, Fakhrul said.
He also urged the government to keep "windows of democracy" open for the sake of welfare of the people.
In a separate programme, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed alleged that the ruling AL was misleading the nation by observing "democracy victory day" on January 5. "Observing the January 5 election day as 'democracy victory day' is nothing but a farce".
Moudud made the remarks at a discussion organised by Jatiya Ganatantrik Mancha at National Press Club.
On January 5, the ruling Awami League celebrated "democracy victory day" across the country with great fanfare while the BNP faced obstructions in holding rallies and processions to observe the day as "democracy killing day".
BNP leaders and activists alleged that their party workers were obstructed in different districts as they tried to bring out processions with black flags as part of their nationwide programme.
There have been reports of sporadic violence on January 5 in several districts including Barisal, Tangail, Naogaon, Narayanganj, Sylhet and Rajshahi.