Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Friday said the BNP leaders’ dream of ousting the government through movement is nothing but an illusion.
“Sheikh Hasina’s government will remain in power as long as people want it. The government will not fall just because of what the BNP leaders are saying,” he added.
About the recent remark of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir that the movement will make the government fall, the AL leader said the BNP leader has been making such remarks for more than one decade to cheer up their frustrated leaders and activists.
To topple the government, BNP relied on the students’ anti-quota movement (against the quota system in government jobs), the anti-sculpture movement and the students’ safe road movement. “But BNP has failed in all cases,” he said.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, condemned Fakhrul’s comments about the country’s economy and the warning of famine saying these remarks are baseless, absurd and politically motivated.
In its recent Chattogram rally, Fakhrul accused the government of destroying the country’s economy and all the state institutions by indulging in corruption and plunder.
Criticising the prime minister for her warning that next year could see a famine, the BNP leader also said, “You’ve said famine is likely to hit the country, then why are you there in the office? Quit power safely, otherwise, you won’t find any route to flee.”
In response, Quader said all the countries of the world are facing a global crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and they are looking for ways to deal with it if it deepens in the future. “Would the prime ministers of all the countries resign?”
The AL leader said Bangladesh is not an isolated island. “Although the global crisis was not caused by us, it has affected us,” he said, adding that the World Bank fears that a global recession may hit next year.
Quader also blasted Fakhrul for his remarks that the declaration of 29 government institutions as “critical information infrastructure” inflicted a major blow to freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.
He said this step was taken in the interest of the state and the people. “If the security of these infrastructures is slightly disturbed, it will cause huge loss to the state and the people. It has no relation to the violation of the public rights to information, nor is it contradictory to the right to information.”
The AL general secretary also said such important information infrastructures were identified in many countries of the world, including neighbouring India, Korea and the UK as important.
Source: United News of Bangladesh