Everyone is bad except one, this AL era narrative still prevails: Tarique Rahman
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman has said that the Awami League-era narrative—that "one person is good and everyone else is bad"—is still being actively propagated.
He declared that this practice poses a serious threat to democracy and insisted that such a system must be fundamentally changed.
Tarique Rahman made the remarks at an event organised by the BNP at the Krishibid Institution (KIB) Auditorium in Farmgate, Dhaka, on Monday evening.
He delivered his address virtually from London during the event, titled 'Plan for Nation Building', held to mark the month of victory. Over 1,000 leaders from various levels across 75 units of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) across the country participated in the programme.
Without explicitly naming the party but making an implicit reference to Jamaat-e-Islami, Tarique Rahman remarked, “We've observed a situation where the narrative was 'I am good and everyone else is bad' for 16 years. Sadly, I feel that this approach has somehow not changed even after 5 August. It is desirable for this attitude to change. In fact, it is extremely urgent for this change to occur.”
Tarique Rahman said that the BNP believes in multiparty democracy. He said that in a multiparty democracy people will express different opinions. They have the right to express their opinions. They have the right to speak. But saying that only one person is good and everyone else is bad can never be acceptable.
The BNP is holding a series of workshops or events for its front and affiliated organisations on how it plans to work on eight sectors, including education, health, sports, family cards, farmer cards and employment, if it returns to power.
The event will continue until 13 December except Friday. Jubo Dal, Swechchhasebak Dal, Ulema Dal and other affiliated organisations will take part in it. After that, the concluding event will be held on a day other than Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day.
Addressing the JCD leaders present at the event, Tarique Rahman said that many political parties make statements such as “We will ensure honest governance, we will establish justice, we will do this and that for the country,” which he described as vague terms.
He also asked whether any political party other than the BNP had spent an entire day discussing matters so specific and precise that they touch people’s lives and shape people’s lives.
The BNP acting chairman called on the Chhatra Dal leaders and activists to work for the candidates the party has nominated in different constituencies across the country.
He said that the party had to make a decision, and it made the one it felt would be the best overall. He added that someone in their own area might not have received the nomination despite their preference. The person who did receive it might be someone they know well, or someone with whom they have a weaker connection.
“Brothers, you are not working for the candidate; you are working for your sheaf of paddy,” the BNP acting chairman said.
Tarique Rahman called for taking the BNP’s plans discussed at the event to the people. He said that the public must be involved in the BNP’s plans. The task for the next two months is to engage the people with the party’s plans and garner their support.
Among the others who addressed the programme are: Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of the BNP standing committee; Mahdi Amin, adviser to the acting chairman; Saimum Parvez, special assistant of the BNP chairperson’s foreign affairs committee; Aminul Haque, convener of BNP’s Dhaka north unit; and Mir Shahe Alam, president of Bogura’s Shibganj upazila unit BNP.
The event was chaired by Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the BNP, and conducted by another joint secretary general, Habib un Nabi Khan.