Staff Reporter :
Opposition political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), are set to escalate their ongoing movement at the outset of the year 2024 with the goal of removing the government.
They are urging voters to abstain from casting votes in the January 7 Jatiya Sangsad election.
During their current peaceful political initiative of distributing leaflets to advocate election boycott, the BNP has appealed to voters to avoid going to the polling stations.
“The Awami League leaders have amassed huge wealth by plundering the country’s resources and engaged in money laundering abroad,” BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said while distributing leaflets in the city’s Malibag area on Sunday.
“They have built their fortunes by looting the assets of the people, and today, they lead opulent lives like in the heaven of Shaddad. Therefore, they are reluctant to relinquish these luxuries. For this reason, they are organising one-sided or intra-party elections,” he said.
Rizvi stated, “This election is not for us. It is a one-sided election, not the people’s choice. It is not the election for the voters. Why is the Awami League holding this election? Because they want to maintain the status quo of the wealth they have looted and accumulated.”
“No one should go to the polling centers in this election,” he said.
On the other hand, the leaders of the Gonotantra Mancha said that at the beginning of 2024, this government would bid farewell.
In a brief gathering at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday, the leaders of the Gonotantra Mancha urged for unity in the goal of changing the government and boycotting one-sided election.
Saiful Haque, the General Secretary of the Biplobi Workers Party, said, “This government is unlawfully holding onto power against the will of the people. They are utilising the entire state machinery. They are using every institution in the country, which is regrettable.”
Asserting that money is being used to influence voters to support the ruling party, he said, “Many voters are being offered money equivalent to three days’ wages to vote. They have already started playing the vote game.”
“I want to tell the government – this time, the game will not work. They are trying to use the social safety net cards. If voters do not go to the polling centers and cast their votes, they will not get back those cards,” he said.
Saiful Haque further stated, “The government has lost all the power to compete with the opposition parties. At the beginning of 2024, we will bid farewell to this government and bring the message of new freedom to the country.”
Junaid Saki, Chief Coordinator of the Gonosanghati Andolan, said, “The government is attempting to halt our popular uprising through state-sponsored coercion. No matter how many conspiracies you hatch, you will not be spared this time.”
Meanwhile, Islami Andolon Bangladesh Presidium Member Maulana Syed Mosaddeq Billah in their separate programme said the government has destroyed all the state institutions, including electoral system, judiciary and education in the last 15 years, pushing the country to the verge of destruction.
He made the remarks at a gathering on the North Gate of Baitul Mokarram on the occasion of submitting a memorandum to the President of Bangladesh urging him to stop one-sided farcical election, dissolution of the parliament and cancellation of the ‘controversial’ new curriculum for students.
Principal Hafez Maulana Yunus Ahmed said that the government in the past elections had discouraged voters from going to polling centers by resorting to threats and intimidation.
However, this time, fearing the lack of public interest in the upcoming election, the government is resorting to showcasing intimidation to push people towards voting centers, he said.
He urged the President to halt the election, organise a fair and acceptable poll under the supervision of a national government, and save the country from the clutches of the impending danger.