BNP wants Nayapaltan if denied permission at Suhrawardy

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said his party wants to hold a rally in front of Nayapaltan central office on January 7 if it is not permitted at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka.

“We are prepared to hold the rally in front of our central party office if we are deprived of permission at Suhrawardy Udyan,” Fakhrul said at a preparatory meeting ahead of the rally at Bhasani Bhaban in the area this noon.

The party has sought permission from the authorities concerned for holding the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in protest of the January 5, 2014 general election which it dubbed “democracy killing day”.

He alleged that the ruling Awami League is scrapping political space for the opposition parties as it does not believe in democracy.

“Awami League fears people and disbelieves in democracy and thus we are being deprived of political rights to hold rally and procession,” Fakhrul said at a programme in Nayapaltan of Dhaka this afternoon.

Stating that people are the last resort of the party, Fakhrul said his party has no scope to go anywhere without the doors of people.

“If we can organise the people then we will be able to achieve our political goal to reinstate democracy in the country. I believe all barricades of the government will go in vain if we can mobilise people rightly,” he said.

Besides at a separate programme, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed alleged that the ruling Awami League is misleading the nation marking January 5 as “democracy victory day”.

“Observing January 5 election day as democracy’s victory is nothing but a funny matter. It is also a mockery with the nation,” he said.

He was addressing a discussion at National Press Club in Dhaka this afternoon.

The former law minister also said the ruling AL can term January 5 as democracy victory day but the history will evaluate it in time.

Warning that no government is the last one and it will not stay in power forever, Moudud said the ruling Awami League will be evaluated by the history when it will go out of power.  

The BNP leader said they observed January 5 as “democracy killing day” because the incumbent government does not have any public mandate and it is not elected in peoples’ vote.

Moudud also asked the authority concerned why his party will not be allowed to hold a rally in the capital on January 7 marking the January 5, 2014 farcical general election.