BNP seeks to change government through taking control of streets

Drone was seen flying for a few more times in the Naya Paltan area during the rally. That made the BNP leaders and activists curious. Later, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also talked about the drone in his speech

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addresses a rally organised at Naya Paltan central office on 11 August 2022 protesting record hiking of fuel oil, ongoing load shedding and killing two leaders of BNP in Bhola
Suvra Kanti Das

The government has been destroying hopes and aspirations of the people in a planned way, alleged the leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday. They also said they must take to the streets to save the country. A people’s government will be established by ousting the incumbent government through fights on streets, they added.

The leaders of de facto opposition BNP were speaking at a rally at its Naya Paltan central office in the capital city in afternoon. The rally was organised protesting record hiking of fuel price, ongoing load shedding, and exorbitant price hike of daily essentials and killing two leaders of the party’s student front, Jatitabadi Chhatra Dal, and volunteer front, Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebok Dal, in Bhola.

Thousands of party leaders and activists took part from Dhaka and its adjacent districts in the rally organised by Dhaka metro south and north units of BNP. Though the meeting started at 2:00pm, leaders and activists started gathering at the venue with processions more than three hours ago. At a stage, they took position at Fakirerpool, Bijoynagar, Kakrail and Shantinagar areas. The transport movement through Naya Paltan and its adjacent roads was closed almost for the whole day due to the rally.

They (the government) have brought this (drone) to keep people under surveillance; to monitor people, who want democracy. We become fearful whenever we hear about drone
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Secretary General, BNP

When BNP’s joint secretary Syed Moazzem Hossain was addressing the rally, a drone was flying in the sky. He said, “Look, a drone is flying. They have been monitoring what we are doing here. You show …” At that time, the leaders and activists started chanting slogans denouncing the government.

A drone is flying along the VIP road in Dhaka during the rally of BNP at its Naya Paltan central office on 11 August 2022
Prothom Alo

Drone was seen flying for a few more times in the Naya Paltan area during the rally. That made the BNP leaders and activists curious. Later, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also talked about the drone in his speech.

He said, “Many of you were observing the flight of drone. I asked the people involved with flying the drone that you are flying this, but this is illegal. They said there are some drones weigh less than five pounds; you don’t need any permission to fly those.”

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also said, “They (the government) have brought this (drone) to keep people under surveillance; to monitor people, who want democracy. We become fearful whenever we hear about drones. Why this fear? We have seen leaders of different countries are being killed using drones controlled from other countries. We have seen how drone is being used to kill people who demand democracy and waging fight for democracy.”

There will be looting through quick rental (power plants), the government knew this from beforehand. That’s why the government has given indemnity in the Jatiya Sangsad
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, BNP Standing Committee Member

Speaking to Prothom Alo about flying drone, Paltan police station officer-in-charge Salauddin Mia told at night, “Police did not fly any drone. BNP leaders and activists flew the drone to take video of the rally. Work is underway to identify the people who did that.”

Where is US$ 30 billion?

At the rally Mirza Fakhrul alleged that Tk 780 billion (78,000 crore) has already been laundered from quick rental power plants. Mentioning a statistics of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), he said US$ 270 billion was earned from export in the last seven years. But the information of only US$240 billion is available at Bangladesh Bank. Where is the remaining US$ 30 billion? Who has taken that away? he questioned.

Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP take part in the rally organised at Naya Paltan central office on 11 August 2022 to protest record hiking of fuel oil, ongoing load shedding and killing two leaders of BNP in Bhola
Suvra Kanti Das

He also alleged that the government has not taken any step to explore and extract gas from local gas fields just for carrying out corruption and stealing people’s money. Fakhrul said LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is being imported to give benefit to the businesspersons close to the government. The administration and the judiciary have also been politicised.

The BNP secretary general urged the youth to wake up to get out of this situation.

Fakhrul said, “The fight has started. This fight is for living, this fight is to save Bangladesh. Everyone must join the fight; take to the streets. A government of the people will be established by ousting the incumbent government through fight on the streets.”

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, addressing the rally as special guest said, “There would be looting through quick rental (power plants), the government knew this from beforehand. That’s why the government has given indemnity in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament). So that none can say anything against it, none can go to the court and raise questions on the price.”

He remarked that no government gives such indemnity about any business venture.

Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moin Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Selima Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, vice chairmen Abdullah Al Mamun and Abdul Awal Mintoo, senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Dhaka metro south BNP convener Abdus Salam, and north unit convener Amanullah Aman, among other, addressed the programme.