BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Thursday accused the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami of spreading false information and slander.
He said the two parties were unrivalled in their propaganda campaigns.
Speaking at a dengue awareness campaign in Dhaka’s Shantinagar, Rizvi alleged that the “secret party” and “defeated forces” behaved almost identically.
He said both made similar statements and spread propaganda.
“Awami League was a propagandist party, and another secret party has now joined them,” he said, adding that one had been banned while the other was now serving as an opposition party.
Rizvi claimed that attempts had previously been made ahead of Sharadiya Durga Puja to portray the BNP as a militant political party and spread fears that members of religious minority communities were unsafe in Bangladesh.
He said this year’s Durga Puja celebrations took place in a peaceful and secure environment because Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government remained vigilant and acted responsibly, leaving what he described as conspirators no opportunity to carry out their plans.
According to Rizvi, BNP leaders and activists maintained contact with the committees of every Puja mandap and worked day and night to help ensure security. He said the prime minister and his party were directly involved in security arrangements.
He described this year’s celebrations as the most peaceful Durga Puja in the past 18 to 20 years, although he provided no statistics to substantiate the claim.
Turning to the government’s election commitments, Rizvi said the BNP was demonstrating consistency between its promises and actions, with the Tarique Rahman administration implementing pledges made before the election.
Citing economists, he claimed that the distribution of Family Cards and Farmers’ Cards would help reduce the country’s poverty rate by a further 5 per cent this year. He did not identify the economists.
Regarding the dengue prevention campaign, Rizvi said leaflet distribution had been suspended for several days because of Durga Puja and resumed on Thursday.
He urged people to remain vigilant and take preventive measures to protect themselves from dengue infection.
Rizvi also defended the prime minister’s remarks linking the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami, claiming that Tarique Rahman had raised the issue because clear evidence existed. He did not elaborate on the evidence.
