BNP to announce programmes under 1-point movement to oust govt

BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan on Sunday said their party, together with like-minded opposition factions, will be announcing a fresh set of programmes under a one-point movement to oust the incumbent Awami League government.

Khan made the announcement after a meeting with leaders of the 12-party alliance, that stayed steadfast in its support for the BNP’s anti-government movement throughout 2023, culminating in the boycott of the January 7, 2024 election “We see various crises deepening in the country. It is not acceptable... the country is facing a crisis of democracy... the country is plagued with corruption and misdeeds,” the BNP leader said.

Nazrul said it is clear that high officials are indulging in corruption under the patronage of the government, depleting the country’s resources. “

“Banks are empty and our currency is devalued. People have become fed up with rising commodity prices. Anti-state MoUs have been signed. People are getting killed along the border and the border remains unprotected.”

In these circumstances, the BNP leader said their party believes that the country’s crises will not be resolved without the implementation of that one point for which they started the simultaneous movement last year.

“We’ll announce the programmes in the coming days to advance that one-point movement. We had this discussion today (Sunday) in the wake of the announcement of that programme," he said.

A delegation of the 12-party alliance, led by Jatiya Party (Zafar) chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider, had the meeting with a BNP delegation comprising Nazrul Islam Khan, party standing committee member Selima Rahman and vice chairman M Shahjahan.

The party also held separate meetings with Gonotantrik Bam Oikya, Jatiyatabadi Samomona Jote, NDA, Gonoforum, Bangladesh People’s Party, LDP and a faction of Gono Odhikar Parishad over the last two days and discussed their future course of action.

Replying to a question about the anti-quota movement, Nazrul said, "The government is responsible for this movement because the Prime Minister revoked the quota system instead of reforming it out of anger.

“Even many people belonging to the ruling party said that the decision was not correct. The High Court now partially overruled the government’s decision. Against which the movement has started again... so the problem is not solved in this way,” he observed.

The BNP leader said the government should have reformed the quota system in a justified manner.