Those who speak about second independence, want to demean this Independence Day: Mirza Abbas

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) standing committee member Mirza Abbas has said each political party has its ideological base but that does not suggest there is disunity among them.

“There is no disunity. There are conflicts of interest since each political party has its own ideological base. Every party speaks from its own ideological background. I won’t say this disunity. If there comes a time when greater unity is required, for the independence and sovereignty of the country, surely we shall unite. There is no question over that,” the senior BNP leader told the media.

Mirza Abbas was answering the questions of newspersons on the National Memorial premises in Savar after paying respect to the martyrs placing wreaths at the memorial, marking the Independence Day and National Day today, Wednesday, around 8:15 am.

“Maybe we are speaking differently because of the party’s ideological background. But whenever it will be necessary, the people of Bangladesh will unite to protect independence and sovereignty. We lost the taste of actual independence even after 54 years of Liberation. We have got that anew after 5 August,” he stated.

Remarking that there is nothing called second independence, Mirza Abbas said, “We have got a new taste of independence by ousting the autocrat through the student-people movement in July-August. Many say second independence. But today’s Independence Day proves, there is nothing called second independence in Bangladesh.”

According to him, “Those who say so, actually want to demean this Independence Day; they did not play any role in the Liberation in 1971. That is why they want to demean this day. I would say, they should stop here. Let them respect the day.”

In response to a question on whether they have doubts over the parliamentary election, the senior BNP leader said, “The Chief Adviser said, the election will be held in December. We want to believe in that. We don’t want to change our beliefs in this regard.”

Addressing another question on challenges in the elections, Mirza Abbas expressed, “All the political parties of Bangladesh are opponents. We don’t want to believe that there will be no election.”

When he was asked about the steps of BNP if the election is not held in December, the BNP standing committee member said, “We don’t want to believe that there will be no election. We will see on time if something like that happens.”