In an interview given on the BBC’s News Hour program, Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has raised questions about the Jatiya Party (JaPa) not winning any seats in the 13th national parliamentary election and the results for Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said, “A large and old party has been banned from the election. Although progressive parties were not banned, they were not allowed to hold any meetings or rallies. Many of their leaders have been kept in jail. It is unbelievable that the third-largest political party did not win any seats.”
Also questioning the result for Jamaat-e-Islami’s Islamic alliance in the election, he said, “Where Jamaat usually doesn’t win more than 5-10 seats, they have won nearly 80 seats, so this was not a competitive election.”
In response to a question about whether he is willing to speak with the BNP to bring the Awami League back into politics, Joy said, “We are ready to speak with everyone. The Awami League and BNP are like the Tory and Labour parties in the UK, where politics cannot be imagined without these two parties.”
“Yes, maybe everyone is happy that an election has been held. Let the honeymoon period end; then we shall see. But the Awami League will always remain a factor in Bangladeshi politics. We have 40 percent of the votes, the Jatiya Party has another 5 to 10 percent, so they cannot be avoided forever.”
