BNP must return to Zia's politics: B Chowdhury
Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury on Friday called on BNP to go back to the politics of its founder Ziaur Rahman, coming out of "Jamaat-dependent politics".
Badruddoza Chowdhury, also the founding secretary general of the party, observed that the party has passed through three stages since its inception and is now staying at third stage which is "Jamaat-dependent politics".
Explaining his comment, Badruddoza Chowdhury said the BNP at first had politics of Ziaur Rahman who went from village to village to unite people.
"This BNP does not do Zia's politics now. After that, BNP had the politics of Khaleda Zia which does not have anything to comment on. The BNP is now doing Jamaat-dependant politics," said Badruddoza Chowdhury, who was also the 13th president of the country during the BNP regime from 2001.
He went on saying, "It seems that this [Jamaat-dependent politics] will not last long because of the local and international pressure."
He also said the BNP will have to return to the politics of Ziaur Rahman at the fourth stage.
Former president of the country made these comments while speaking at the book launching programme of the former minister and Jatiya party leader AKM Maidul Islam titled "Politics of self entity and my opinion" at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the morning.
Commenting that the people of the country do not know anything about the deals signed with India during the visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, B Chowdhury said, "The government along with the opposition expressed their joy on his (Modi) arrival. He signed 22 deals of which we don't know anything. We need a year to know about the deals."
"Deal means win-win situation. None will lose. Did it happen in those 22 deals? I don't think so. Problems of 47,000 people have been solved with ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and I am thanking them (government) for it. But 20 million people are crying on the banks of Teesta. They can't run their family," B Chowdhury said.
Referring to the Indian prime minister's Hindi speech at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), Chowdhury asked, "How come he knows we are Hindustani."
He asked prime minister Sheikh Hasina to give her speeches in Bengali in her next visit to India in reply to Modi's Hindi speech in Dhaka.
The author of the book AKM Maidul Khan was once a member of Ziaur Rahman's cabinet.
Former vice chancellor of Dhaka University professor Emajuddin Ahmed presided over the programme where, among others, another former DU VC Anwarullah Chowdhury, BNP chairperson's adviser Inam Ahmed Chowdhury and professor Dilara Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.