PM apologises for fuel, power crisis

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, apologised on Saturday to citizens and industries struggling under chronic shortages of electricity and fuel, even as he accused unnamed political rivals of exploiting the country’s hardships to sow “confusion and anarchy.”

The dual message – contrition paired with a warning – captured the balancing act facing Tarique Rahman’s seven-month-old government, which has struggled to shake off the economic dysfunction it inherited while also fending off accusations that democratic norms remain fragile in post-uprising Bangladesh.

“The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is currently responsible for running the country,” the Prime Minister said, addressing a discussion at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium in the capital’s Farmgate neighborhood, held to mark the party’s 48th founding anniversary.

“Many people, including owners of industries and factories, are facing electricity and fuel shortages. On behalf of the party, I apologize to all of them.”

The admission was notable for a governing party that has largely sought to frame its early months in office as a period of recovery from what it describes as the failures of both the previous government, led by the Awami League, and the interim administration that governed after last year’s mass uprising forced that government from power.

The Prime Minister did not shy away from that framing on Saturday, telling the gathering that his government had inherited deep problems across the economy, energy, health, education and communications sectors.

But he was careful to avoid sounding as though he were simply passing blame.

“We do not want to use them merely as an excuse,” he said of the inherited crises. “Rather, we want to present the reality and take steps so that the country does not face such problems again in the future.”

He said his government had adopted an action plan to address the energy shortages specifically, while acknowledging that translating policy into relief would take time.

“Just as it takes time to formulate an action plan, it also takes some time to implement it,” he said, adding that the plan was designed with an eye toward insulating the country from future global disruptions to fuel and power supplies.

The more combative portion of PM’s speech centered on what he described as efforts by unnamed political parties and individuals to capitalize on public frustration.

He suggested that people associated with the ousted authoritarian government may be operating covertly to reignite instability.

“Could it be that those who remained hidden under the authoritarian regime are now, from within that hidden network, trying to incite this anarchy?” he asked the crowd.

“If that is the case, then those who are hiding are actually working to bring that authoritarian regime back to the forefront.”

He urged party leaders and activists to press the public to consider “who was taking responsibility for whom and who was trying to protect whom,” language that appeared aimed at reviving scrutiny of political and security figures who served under the previous government.

He pointed to what he called recurring patterns of protection among shifting political and military factions across several pivotal moments in Bangladeshi history, citing 1971, 1986, 1996 and what he called the “past one and a half decades.”

Tarique Rahman was explicit that his government intended to draw a line under such activity through legal channels rather than repression, though his language left little ambiguity about his tolerance for dissent framed as disorder.

“If anyone wants to create anarchy, the law of the country clearly sets out how to control such anarchy,” he said.

“As a government – and not just as a government, but as a government elected by the people – I want to make it clear that everyone needs to remain within their respective limits.”

The remarks came during a five-day program marking the party’s founding, which began Tuesday and concluded with Saturday’s event, held under the slogan “We will work, we will build the country, Bangladesh first.”

The gathering opened with a moment of silence for the party’s founder, Ziaur Rahman, who established the B.N.P. on September 1, 1978, as well as for former party chairwoman Khaleda Zia and others who died in service to the party and the country.

A screening of a documentary on the party’s history followed the national anthem and the B.N.P.’s own anthem.

Closing his remarks, Tarique Rahman returned to the party’s founding principles, describing a decades-long commitment to democratic governance that he said had cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of B.N.P. supporters.

“We still firmly believe in this,” he said, adding that the party’s goal remained building what he called a humane state in which citizens could exercise their rights without obstruction.