'Is syndicate more powerful than govt?'

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Anisul Islam Mahmud today in parliament raised questions whether the market syndicate is more powerful than the government.

"The government has reduced the duty of different goods to reduce prices. But prices of those goods didn't decrease. Why can't we control the syndicate? Is the syndicate more powerful than the government?" he asked.

Anisul, also senior co-chairman of main opposition Jatiya Party said this while participating in the thanksgiving motion on the President's speech.

"Common people are suffering due to inflation. Weak banking sector, unstable dollar exchange rate, dwindling reserves make the overall economy unstable," he also said.

He said, in case of any problem, the government used to cite the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

"But it is useless to mention such reasons. We will have to figure out our own structural problems. Inflation has come under control in every country, including the United States. Why can't Bangladesh do that? These should be discussed in the parliament."

Anisul said, "This government is strong. All but 13 members of the parliament belong to the ruling party. Why can't the government stop extortion? It was expected that commodity prices would go down before Ramadan. But it's not happening."

He said good governance must be established in a bid to make development sustainable. Confidence in the judiciary should be increased. It should be ensured that the freedom of the media is not undermined.

Anisul said, "Recently, a delegation from the US visited the country. They were apparently visiting to know about the democracy in the country and the election. But I don't think that's true. They came here because of a geopolitical reason. They want to include Bangladesh in some platform."

He added, "My only request to the government is that we should not get involved in the internal affairs of Myanmar in any way, because it involves the integrity of our country."