A heated exchange broke out in the Jatiya Sangsad after National Citizen Party (NCP) lawmaker Abdul Hannan Masud said the prime minister had made statements based on false information.
The unscheduled debate took place on Sunday during discussion on the proposed budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year in parliament.
Towards the end of his speech in the budget discussion, Hannan Masud said: “Our honourable prime minister is not present here today. When he says, based on false information, that the opposition is bringing out processions over why the price of alcohol has been increased or why the price of cigarettes has been increased; we become deeply disappointed when the honourable prime minister makes such statements based on false information.”
At this point, MPs from the ruling party protested his remarks by shouting in the House.
Hannan Masud claimed that whenever they sought to raise issues such as loan defaulters and the takeover of Islami Bank in parliament, the prime minister would say, “You are all landlords who have never taken loans.”
He said that through such remarks, the prime minister was effectively encouraging loan defaulters.
Ruling party MPs again protested noisily in the House.
Unscheduled debate
After Hannan Masud’s remarks, BNP lawmaker Zainul Abdin Farroque rose on a point of order to protest.
Demanding that the NCP member’s remarks be expunged from the record, he said they did not want any false statement to be made in parliament, nor any insulting remark directed at the leader of the House.
Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam then took the floor. Referring to Zainul Abdin Farroque, he said, “He has made a sweeping claim that false statements were made in that speech. He must state factually which information was incorrect.”
Nahid said the prime minister, too, could make mistakes, and that the opposition had the right to criticise his remarks.
Stressing that they respected the prime minister, Nahid Islam said, “But that does not mean that nothing can be said about him, or that none of his remarks can be criticised. We want to move towards democracy. We do not want to head back towards fascism.”
Responding to Nahid’s remarks, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the opposition chief whip’s comments were not correct. The opposition member, Hannan Masud, had specifically said that the leader of the House and prime minister had made false statements, he said.
When opposition members began shouting in protest, Mirza Fakhrul said, “Let us speak. You talk about fascism, but fascist behaviour is coming from your side. You must allow us to speak. When you were speaking, none of us interrupted.”
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also demanded that the part of Hannan Masud’s speech containing what he described as false statements be expunged.
‘This is not Shahbagh’
After Mirza Fakhrul’s speech, Hannan Masud tried to speak again, but the deputy speaker did not give him the floor. Even so, he continued speaking without a microphone, prompting Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal to say, “Standing up whenever you want in parliament in this way is not the norm. Please take your seat, Mr Hannan Masud.”
“Hannan Masud, please sit down. This is not Shahbagh. This is the Jatiya Sangsad,” the deputy speaker added.
At that stage, opposition leader in parliament and Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Shafiqur Rahman took the floor. He requested that the deputy speaker not allow either the expunging of remarks or speeches in parliament on the basis of dragging in matters from outside the House.
Urging members not to attach too much importance to the issue, Shafiqur Rahman said, “We will answer outside the House the matters of outside; the response in parliament should remain within issues relating to parliament. But if we get into arguments over what is true and what is false, many things may become embarrassing for us.”
Later, Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal said a decision on the matter would be taken after considering and reviewing everything.