DU Correspondent :
Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Senior Joint Secretary General of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said “The journey of Awami League’s fascist politics began on October 28, 2006 under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. The bloody riots of that day shocked the entire nation, which was the first manifestation of fascism in Bangladesh.”
He made these remarks on Tuesday while delivering a guest speaker’s speech at a discussion titled ‘Logi Baithar Lashtantra Theke Awami fachibader Utthan: Atashe Octiber Prekkhit’ organized by the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU).
He said, “On that day, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was in the process of resigning, but the law enforcement agencies were not listening to the government. The administration then became biased. on this occasion, Sheikh Hasina started a bloody attack with the followers of the 14 parties. This was the first staging of fascism.”
Rizvi said, “The way in which Chhatra Dal president Shahabuddin Laltu was beaten and injured is a horrific example of Sheikh Hasina’s fascist politics. Bangladesh has never seen such atrocities before, such as pelting an injured person with bricks in a cold-blooded manner and celebrating over the body.”
He alleged, “The October 28 massacre was planned. From then on, Sheikh Hasina started to organize the administration and law enforcement agencies into political allegiance-the way Hitler built his ‘Aryan state’. Sheikh Hasina has applied the same strategy in her administration as well.”
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi further said, “The Secretary-General of the United Nations also protested that incident. But Sheikh Hasina’s government was already on the path of killing democracy and building a fascist state. No one outside of her administration’s party loyalty would have found a place.”
Describing the characteristics of fascism, he said, “Like Hitler, Sheikh Hasina has also made a statement of state worship-where ‘state’ means the Awami League. Anyone who goes beyond this state thinking is a traitor.”
“During Sheikh Hasina’s time, the administration, law enforcement, and judiciary were all run in party loyalty,” said he.
He further said, “The discourse of fascism always appears by distorting a ‘consciousness’. Sheikh Hasina’s ‘consciousness’ is also like that-where oppositional voices mean anti-state. Our youth must stand against this discourse and practice truth and freedom.”
Shafiqul Islam Masud, Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Dhaka City Uttar, said, “A case was filed against Sheikh Hasina as the number one accused in the incident of that day as the one who ordered it, but after coming to power, the Awami League withdrew the case without investigation. They then created a ‘terror regime’ alongside the death penalty regime – to establish a policy of terror and repression in the country.”
He said, “In that 12-hour battle, we had wooden sticks in our hands, and they had automatic weapons. One Hafez brother said before his death, ‘Don’t hit my face, I have the Quran in this face.’ But they broke his teeth with bricks. Not only Bangladesh, but the whole world has seen such demonism.”
Masud claimed that 13 Jamaat-Shibir activists were martyred in Dhaka and 33 across the country, and more than 250 were injured on October 28.
Masud also said, “Their main target was our honest and popular ministers-who were running the ministry without corruption. And during Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami’s speech on stage, bullets and bombs were thrown like rain from the nearby building.”
As the president of the Program, Abu Shadik Kayem, DUCSU VP, said, “To understand the fascist rise of the Awami League, we have to look back to October 28. From that day on, Sheikh Hasina established 16 years of fascism – wiping out opponents through disappearances, murders, mirror houses, judicial killings and political vendettas. She even plotted to wipe out political opponents by keeping national leader Begum Khaleda Zia in prison for a long time.”
He alleged, “The so-called cultural fascist helped Awami League perpetuate fascism in Bangladesh. This group has legitimized the massacre of Allama Delwar Hossain Saidi, Ahmed Shafi and the ‘Alim’ community. They also tried to destroy the integrity of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.”
