BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has said that he sincerely hopes the interim government succeeds, in an interview given to BBC Bangla.
The second part of this interview was published on Tuesday morning. Tarique Rahman, based in London, faced the media after a long gap of 17 years.
In response to a question, he said, “The main goal of the interim government is to hold a fair election, including reforms. I hope they will carry out this primary responsibility properly.”
“The warmth or coolness of the relationship will depend on how well or poorly they are able to do this work now,” he said.
Explaining previous comments that “there is doubt in public mind” regarding the interim government, Tarique Rahman said, “When the government did not announce the election time frame or roadmap despite public aspiration, doubt about their activities arose not only among us but in everyone’s mind.”
“But when they took a firm stance on the election, this doubt gradually disappeared. The more decisiveness the government shows in its actions, the more the doubt will disappear,” he added.
Regarding his meeting with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in London, Tarique Rahman informed that besides the election, various conversations took place with him. Referring to Yunus as “highly learned”, he further informed that during that meeting, the chief adviser wanted to know what steps they would take if the people gave them the opportunity to run the country in the election. In response, Tarique explained the party’s thoughts and future programmes to him on this matter.
When asked to evaluate this government over the past year, he said, “Governing a country is a huge matter. In terms of territory, Bangladesh is perhaps a very small country. But in terms of population, it is three times larger than the UK. A political party with a public mandate is needed to run such a country.”
“Considering all aspects of the incumbent interim government outside of the election, it can be said that not everyone can succeed in everything. They surely have some limitations. They are sincerely trying to do everything despite those limitations,” said Tarique.
Assessing the 1/11 government, he first said in one sentence, “It was a government with dishonest motives.”
Explaining further, he said, “At that time, the foundation of democracy was being built amidst various upheavals and mistakes. Yet we saw how they tried to break and destroy everything at that time, how they tried to depoliticise the country.”
“Later, we also saw a different side of that government, in the name of democracy,” Tarique added.
