After staging a “walkout” from the National Parliament session, Opposition Leader and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman said that they would move toward a mass movement led by 11 parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP).
“Since we could not realise the people’s demand for reform here, we will now take that demand back to the people,” he said.
At the time, the opposition leader also said, “Will we wage a movement? Certainly. What option do we have other than a movement? We will organise a movement, and we will do it with the people. The 11 parties will sit together very soon. We will take a decision quickly.”
He made these remarks to journalists outside the parliamentary chamber this afternoon, Wednesday, after walking out of the session. NCP Member Secretary and Member of Parliament Akhtar Hossain was present beside him.
First, Shafiqur Rahman explained the background of the walkout to journalists. He said they staged the walkout in protest against not receiving any remedy regarding the convening of the Constitution Reform Council and against the introduction of another proposal to suppress their own.
Shafiqur Rahman said, “Previously, there have been three referendums in Bangladesh. None of them ended in this way. In all three cases, the people were given the next opportunity in accordance with their verdict. This is the first time when both the ruling and opposition parties were in agreement and all of us sought votes in its favor, yet it has been ignored and dismissed and effectively brought to an end. In reality, the final will of the people has been violated. We did not accept this situation. Out of respect for the people’s will, we staged the walkout.”
He added, “Since this expression of the people’s will was not properly respected and accepted inside the House, we now have only one path—we must return to the people. The people who gave this verdict—we will go back to them, Insha’Allah. Together with the people, we will take initiatives on how to realise the demand for a referendum.”
Noting that the demand to form a Constitution Reform Council is not about protecting the interests of any party, group, or individual, the opposition leader said, “We wanted to close the avenues through which corruption and misgovernance are imposed on the people in the name of the constitution. The current ruling party has notes of dissent on key points of the July Charter. What they do is their matter. But the people’s aspiration for reform and for changing the political character of the country was not allowed to proceed in a proper manner.”
Shafiqur Rahman said, “Before the election, 11 parties united on various demands. Our main demands were good governance, justice, and a stance against corruption and misrule. Since we could not achieve that here, we will now take the people’s demands back to the people. Insha’Allah, we will take the next steps with the people.”
‘We walked out, we did not give up’
In response to a journalist’s question about whether opposition members would resign from Parliament, Shafiqur Rahman said, “We did not say we will not remain in Parliament. We have staged a walkout; we have not given up Parliament. We are part of Parliament. We are Members of Parliament. We must fulfill this responsibility given by the nation.”
Regarding the opposition’s next course of action, he said, “You will see. What our role will be tomorrow—you will see when the night passes, Insha’Allah. You will see tomorrow what we do.”
He also remarked that they want reform, not merely amendment of the constitution.