Chief whip rebuffs ‘friendly game’ in JS

Chief Whip Md Nurul Islam Moni has rebuffed suggestions that the government and the Opposition are engaged in a “friendly game” in the budget session of Bangladesh’s 13th Parliament.

“There is no game here, no friendly game,” he said. He made the remarks on Thursday during the question-and-answer session of a press conference at the LD Hall of the parliament building on the budget session.

A journalist referred to comments made the previous day by the Leader of the Opposition about the government and opposition moving forward together.

The journalist also noted that a ruling party lawmaker, during the budget debate, had compared the situation to a “friendly match” between football stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, warning that if such a game continued in parliament, the field would eventually become empty. Asked whether any “friendly game” was taking place in parliament, the chief whip replied:

“Ronaldo and Messi play football and compete in the World Cup. There is no game in Bangladesh’s Parliament.”

He added that if anyone had made such a comparison, it reflected that individual’s personal opinion.
Moni said the government wants an opposition that cooperates on reasonable issues while also criticising the government when necessary.

“If something is genuine, let them stand beside us. If it is not genuine, let them stand against us and criticise us so that we can correct our mistakes.”

He argued that in a democratic system, the opposition’s role is not to oppose everything the government does because today’s opposition could become tomorrow’s government.

“We want a smooth democracy. The opposition should cooperate where cooperation is needed and criticise where criticism is necessary.”

Throughout most of the press conference, the chief whip portrayed the cooperation between the government and the opposition during the budget session as a positive development. During the questions and answers session, however, he faced questions on parliamentary effectiveness, delays in distributing bills, implementation of the July Charter, child deaths from measles, cross-border “push-ins,” the July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum, and the formation of parliamentary committees.

Moni claimed that the Opposition was given more speaking time than originally allocated during the budget session.

He said although the Opposition had been allocated 26 percent of the total time, it actually spoke for nearly 31 percent.

“We listened to every leader and allowed them to speak as they wished,” he said, adding that some opposition leaders spoke for 30 to 35 minutes.

The chief whip noted that budget sessions normally conclude with the ruling party moving a guillotine motion to pass outstanding demands for grants after a fixed time.

This year, however, he claimed that the Leader of the Opposition personally requested the speaker to proceed to the guillotine after the discussion.

According to Moni, this was the first time in Bangladesh’s parliamentary history that such a request had come from an opposition leader.

He also said the government had taken the opposition’s proposals seriously. As an example, he said that after the Opposition leader raised a local issue in parliament, the prime minister sent the state minister for local government to the area that same evening.

He further said that the prime minister had considered a proposal from the opposition leader to reduce taxes on a particular product.

“The government and the opposition both want to build the country together,” he said, adding that both sides are committed to protecting independence, sovereignty, and democracy.

Moni also claimed that prices had not increased either before the budget announcement or after its passage. He said taxes had not been increased on 63 essential commodities, including food items, while taxes on some products had actually been reduced.

He argued that prices of goods on which taxes had been cut should also decrease.
Quoting the prime minister, he described the 2026-27 budget as a “people-friendly budget”.

The chief whip said he had asked the prime minister how the government would function if taxes were reduced across the board. According to him, she replied that there would be no financial shortage if the annual illicit outflow of US$16 billion could be stopped.

He said the government had inherited an “extremely broken economy”.