Islami Andolan demands public apology from BNP’s Anee over remarks on Charmonai Pir

Leaders and activists of Islami Andolan Bangladesh have expressed outrage over recent remarks made by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) joint secretary general Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee in Lakshmipur on Monday.

The senior BNP leader criticised Charmonai Pir.

The district unit of Islami Andolan Bangladesh on Monday night issued a statement calling on Annie to offer a public apology.

The statement, jointly signed by the unit’s acting president Delwar Hossain and secretary Zahir Uddin, was circulated to the press by publicity and da’wah affairs secretary Mahmudul Hasan.

It said that during a public rally Anee had made “obscene, indecent and fabricated” remarks about the party’s Ameer and Charmonai Pir, Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim. They also described the comments as a breach of political decorum.

Party leaders argued that BNP has been unable to accept the post-5 August unity among Islamic parties and their strategies to attract votes for them. Knowing that the Islamic bloc poses their greatest electoral challenge, they claimed, the BNP has resorted to “falsehoods and slander” against Islamic political parties and national figures.

“The real traitors,” the party statement added, “are those who, standing on the blood of martyrs, engage in extortion, land-grabbing, looting and terrorism.”

The statement further accused BNP of being “accomplices of autocracy,” pointing out that the party legitimised the “fake election of 2018” by sending six MPs to parliament.

“BNP was the party that endorsed the dummy election of 2018,” it read. “Now, like lunatics, they utter nonsense and try to shift blame onto others—a petty attempt to cover up their own failures and divert public sentiment.”

“The national extortionists have nothing to say but lies. Lies are the only capital of Anee Chowdhury and his ilk, and the people of Bangladesh now understand this. We call upon him to withdraw his false remarks,” it went on.

Confirming the release of the statement, acting president Delwar Hossain told the media, “A leader of Annie’s stature making such irresponsible comments has pained political and conscious circles alike. We call upon him to apologise.”

Earlier on Monday afternoon, at the Lakshmipur District Outdoor Stadium, Anee had strongly criticised Islami Andolan Bangladesh and Jamaat-e-Islami during a council of BNP representatives.

There he said Charmonai Pir was a “national traitor and an imposter” who played no role in the fall of autocrat Sheikh Hasina.

The BNP leader further said that in the past 17 years Islami Andolan and its electoral symbol, the haatpakha (Hand Fan), had not participated in any anti-fascist movement, but instead had “maintained cosy ties with Sheikh Hasina.”

According to him, the group is now engaged in various conspiracies to obstruct the forthcoming election. “In the name of Islam they are plotting. But the people must unite to unmask these national traitors. None of their conspiracies will succeed.”

In the same speech, Anee also came down hard on Jamaat-e-Islami, saying, “In ’86 and again in ’96, they not only undermined us in different ways but betrayed the entire nation. To keep Hasina in power, they stood alongside her and became established in Bangladesh as national traitors—self-confessed traitors.”