The seven-point demand of 11-party alliance will transform into a single-point demand at any time if the government fails to accept it, warned Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman.
Shafiqur, also the opposition leader in Parliament, said if the seven demands are accepted peacefully, the burden of a one-point demand will not fall upon the government, but failure to accept would leave them “crushed under the stone” of a one-point demand.
He spoke as chief guest at a wayside rally held at Chuadanga bus stand in Jhenaidah town at 10pm on Saturday, during the 11-party alliance’s Dhaka-Khulna-Jhenaidah-Kushtia long march.
Accusation of vote engineering
The opposition leader accused BNP of forming the government through vote engineering.
He said BNP claims 51 percent of voters supported them, whereas in the referendum, 70 per cent of people voted “Yes” after both sides urged voters to say “Yes.”
Shafiqur added that while the government respects the vote of 51 percent of the people, it has insulted the verdict of 70 percent of voters by failing to implement any outcome of that vote.
He pointed out that the government is making excuses, shifting positions between right and left, and offering various temptations to the alliance.
‘Govt backing away from commitments’
Shafiqur Rahman said alliance members did not enter parliament for personal gain, recalling their pre-election pledge that if elected to form a government, they would not accept any government plots or import duty-free vehicles from abroad.
He noted that alliance members kept their word, forcing the government to agree with their stance.
Shafiqur added that although both BNP and the alliance had agreed to fulfill the referendum demands word for word if “Yes” won, the government backed away from its commitment.
He cited a parliamentary statement from a government representative indicating they accepted terms only to secure power, contrasting this with the sacrifice of 1,400 martyrs who gave their blood for real change and repairing Bangladesh rather than swapping one ruling group for another.
The opposition leader emphasised that the government must accept the public verdict, arguing that rejecting the 70 per cent vote would mean both the referendum and the parliamentary election are illegal, leaving neither a legal government nor an opposition.
Describing such double standards as betrayal of the nation, he vowed that the 11-party alliance will not allow betrayal and will compel the government to honour the people’s mandate, whether through straightforward or tougher means.
Warning of single-point demand
Maintaining that the alliance does not want chaos in the country, the ameer noted that their three long marches covering a vast area have proceeded peacefully so far.
However, he warned that if public rights are trampled, the opposition will not sit idly by, and the seven demands will transform into a single-point demand that would make hearts tremble.
He added that if the government accepts the referendum verdict, no further long march will be announced, but continued stubbornness will prompt a call for people to march from Jhenaidah to Dhaka.
Calling upon the nation to prepare for another struggle, he declared that the people would win and fascism will lose.
The wayside rally was chaired by Ali Azam Mohammad Abu Bakar, ameer of Jhenaidah district Jamaat-e-Islami and member of parliament.
Other speakers included Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad, chairman of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP); Mia Golam Porwar, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami; Abdul Hannan Masud, joint convener of National Citizen Party (NCP) and member of parliament; Hannan Masood, vice president of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU); and Rashed Pradhan, spokesperson of Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (Jagpa).
Leaders and activists of the local 11-party alliance at various levels attended the event, after which the long march departed for Kushtia.
