- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday (27) slammed the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) denouncing its call for holding a movement during Ramadan, Islam’s holy month and asked it to give relief to people.
According to a report in Dhaka Tribune, the Awami League leader said at a party meeting, “They (BNP) have announced movement even in the month of Ramadan. Give the people a sigh of relief from the movement during the month of Ramadan.”
The 72-year-old Hasina also said that in the past, the BNP government of Khaleda Zia had gunned down 17 labourers during the month of Ramadan after they waged a movement for raising their salaries.
“Those who shot people dead in the month of Ramadan, how will they show respect to Ramadan? So, they have called for a movement. The BNP does not sympathize with the sufferings of people,” Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh and its former prime minister and president, said.
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader accused the BNP of being deeply influenced by Pakistan’s ideology and mindset.
On Sunday (26), he said on the occasion of Bangladesh’s 53rd Independence Day that the positions of BNP and Pakistan on the genocide of Bengalis in 1971 are the same.
Last December, thousands of supporters of the opposition rallied in national capital Dhaka seeking resignation of the Hasina government and installation of a caretaker government ahead of the next general elections expected early next year.
The ruling Awami League party, which returned to power in 2018 for the third consecutive time, ruled out the demand, saying a caretaker government goes against the spirit of the country’s constitution.
