No polls under AL government
Mohammad Al-Masum Molla and Kongkon Karmakar from Rangpur
The BNP yesterday said its lawmakers were ready to resign from the House and the parliament must be dissolved before the election.
The power has to be handed over to a caretaker government to oversee the next election, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told yesterday's mammoth rally at Collectorate Eidgah in Rangpur.
"The government must step down. Our MPs are ready to resign from parliament anytime. Our MPs ... Rumeen, Harun, Zahid ... are here. They will resign whenever the party asks them to," he said.
The BNP has seven lawmakers in parliament, including one elected to a reserved seat for women.
There will not be another election like the ones held in 2014 and 2018, Fakhrul said.
"There will be no election in the country unless a caretaker government is in place."
Fakhrul opened his speech asking the crowds, in a thick Rangpur accent, "How are you doing?"
As they replied "not good", he said the economy was in ruins because of the government's plundering and looting.
"… This government has swallowed everything, nothing is left. It has become omnivorous. It eats everything and anything."
Referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent comments about a possible famine, the BNP leader said, "What have you [the PM] done in the last 15 years? You said the country had been turned into Singapore, Malaysia, and Canada. What has happened that you are talking about a famine?"
"… This government has swallowed everything, nothing is left. It has become omnivorous. It eats everything and anything." Mirza Fakhrul
He then asked how people would survive amid the rising prices of essentials and said the government destroyed all the achievements and dreams of the country during the 15 years.
"Those who destroy the country and its people cannot be in power," he said, adding that the BNP's only goal now was to oust the government.
The people have woken up and they will resist all the misdeeds and misrules, he said.
Although there was a transport strike in Rangpur, tens of thousands of BNP supporters made it to the venue. Many of them reached there on Friday morning and waited for the event for almost 24 hours.
Fakhrul thanked the crowd for spending the night in warehouses, abandoned buildings and open fields just to attend the rally.
"If the government was not afraid of the people, then why was the transport strike enforced?"
Even though the ground at Collectorate Eidgah is larger than a standard cricket stadium, the crowd spilled over onto the nearby streets.
A large number of law enforcers were seen in the area.
Pictures of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman were seen in banners and posters placed on the walls in the vicinity.
BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said hartal was usually enforced by the opposition party but now the government itself was enforcing it.
"Basically, the government is alienated from the people and that's why it's called this hartal," he said.
He then described "how badly the economy was doing".
Referring to the PM's apprehension of a famine, he said, "You will be ousted before that happens."
Another standing committee member, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, said, "The party [BNP] members' dedication will not go in vain. Hasina must go and will go.
"We will not return home without victory."
BNP Vice-Chairman AZM Zahid Hossain said, "The city has turned into a city of processions."
The government should take the safe exit to avoid the people's wrath.
The rally was chaired by Rangpur City BNP Convener Shamsuzzaman Shamu. The event started around noon and ended around 5:30pm.
Forty-five-year-old Mustafizur Rahman, joint convener of Kaharol Upazila Jubo Dal in Dinajpur, died at the venue after suffering a heart attack.
The BNP has plans for rallies in other cities to garner public support in the run-up to the next election. It will conclude the series of rallies in Dhaka city on December 10.
The rallies are being held to protest the rising prices of essentials.
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