AL will remain on streets ahead of BNP’s Barishal rally

Politics in Barishal has been teeming with anticipation suddenly centering BNP’s divisional rally scheduled to be held on 5 November. Awami League leaders-activists brought out rallies simultaneously in 30 wards on Monday night, stirring up the politics of the city.

AL leaders said Jubo League’s mass rally would take place in Dhaka on 11 November. Moreover, AL’s national council would be held on 24 December. The party has decided to intensify programmes to organise the party men ahead of these occasions and the next general election. Jubo League will organise a series of processions and rallies in Barishal till 9 November ahead of the mass rally in Dhaka.

Barishal AL’s president and Zila Parishad chairman AKM Jahangir, however, said the programmes they are holding have nothing to do with BNP’s divisional rally.

“We don’t have any headache over BNP’s mass rally. Jubo League’s mass rally would take place in Dhaka where several thousand leaders-activists would join from Barishal. We have called programmes at ward-level to organise the party men,” the AL leader said.

Barishal city BNP’s convener Maniruzzaman Khan said the ruling party has stopped operations of three-wheelers after the buses. They would suspend operations of every other transport.

“We have taken to the streets keeping all these (obstacles) in mind. Yet they failed to thwart people and will fail again.  People will swim to join BNP’s divisional rally,” the BNP leader said.

District AL general secretary Talukdar Md Younus told Prothom Alo that the ruling party does not have any intention to obstruct the BNP rally and the opposition party is bringing out these allegations to destabilize the peaceful situation in the city. Shusashoner Jonno Nagarik (SHUJAN) Barishal city unit’s secretary Rafiqul Alam told Prothom Alo that such programmes of AL in Barishal countering BNP’s divisional mass rally might make a conflict inevitable.

He urged both parties to show restraint to avoid any conflict. AL should play a more pro-active role as they are the ruling party.

Two important leaders of the city AL told Prothom Alo that the BNP is trying to take control of politics through their divisional rallies. They are also trying to hurt the morale of AL leaders-activists. BNP is trying to show the local and international players that the ruling party’s popularity has waned.

The AL leaders said they have decided to take to the streets to foil such a strategy of the BNP. The ruling party leadership has directed 30 ward committees to bring out processions in the city every day till 9 November.  

BNP leaders, however, think that the ruling party has taken the strategy of flexing muscle to create fear among people so that they do not join BNP’s rally.