Staff Reporter :
As part of their pre-announced program, eight parties involved in the simultaneous movement will hold a mass rally at Dhaka’s Paltan on Tuesday. The parties expect not just thousands but hundreds of thousands of people to gather at the event.
Ahead of the rally, leaders of the eight parties met Monday at the headquarters of Islami Andolan Bangladesh in Paltan. After the meeting, Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Hamidur Rahman Azad expressed this optimism at a press conference.
He said, “Tomorrow it won’t be thousands, but hundreds of thousands who will gather. It will be a sea of people – that’s our expectation. People from the capital and surrounding areas will take part. We could have called for rallies across the country, but tomorrow’s program will be limited to Dhaka and its vicinity. If the government can grasp the public sentiment from this rally, we hope a significant message will emerge from it.”
Speaking about their five-point demand movement, Hamidur Rahman Azad said, “The fourth phase of our movement has ended, and the fifth phase is ongoing. On the 6th of this month, we submitted memorandums, and on November 11 we announced the mass rally. We are fighting for some of the people’s fundamental demands. This is not a political alliance – it’s a platform for movement.”
He added that they have always tried to avoid causing public inconvenience. “We have taken into account the potential public suffering around the rally. Our program will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.,” he said.
Regarding discussions with the BNP, Azad said, “They have publicly stated that they will not respond to Jamaat’s call. So, we are also saying publicly – if they call us, we will definitely respond. We will continue both our dialogue efforts and the movement simultaneously.”
In response to a question about whether the consensus commission talks had failed, he said, “The discussions haven’t collapsed. Through dialogue, a charter has been prepared and signed. The crisis is not over the charter itself but over the method of its implementation.”
Hamidur Rahman Azad also said, “Referendum was in the constitution, but fascists removed it. Those who now claim the constitution does not allow referendums are supporting the work of fascists. The constitution mandates elections every five years. So, should the next election be in 2026? The current government itself did not come to power constitutionally.””
