Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi today stated that media outlets acting as agents of fascism during the 16-year tenure of the Awami League regime have no right to continue operating. ‘In a democratic state, press freedom is essential. But for the past 16-17 years, a fascist regime had suppressed dissenting voices. The media that defended disappearances and killings and served fascism has no right to survive anymore,’ he declared.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Rizvi made these remarks at the inaugural ceremony of the multimedia platform of Dainik Barta held at Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah Hall of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital. He accused the Awami League government of curbing press freedom by manipulating the media to conceal enforced disappearances and killings and branding dissenters as extremists to suppress opposition.
Rizvi further alleged that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had ordered air raids from helicopters to quell protests, with her security adviser even suggesting the killing of demonstrators. He drew parallels to media that collaborated with fascist regimes in Mussolini’s Italy or Nazi Germany, which did not survive after the Second World War, asserting that Bangladesh does not need media that whitewashes anti-democratic forces.
Commenting on the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election, Rizvi remarked, ‘It is not baseless to suspect that the ballot papers were printed in Nilkhet’. He criticized the chief returning officer of the DUCSU polls for allegedly speaking in the language of the Awami League, which he believes degrades the university’s dignity. Rizvi urged the media to uncover the truth instead of ‘praising the rulers’.
He concluded by extending best wishes to Editor Mahmud Anwar and others, expressing hope that Dainik Barta would emerge as the voice of democratic movements.