Long march puts govt on back foot
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance said on Saturday that its ongoing long march programmes have put the government under pressure to answer for the people’s demands, as it announced details of its next march from Dhaka to Rangpur.
“The government has started to feel the pressure,” said Hamidur Rahman Azad, coordinator of the alliance and Jamaat’s assistant secretary general, while briefing reporters after a meeting of the alliance’s top leaders.
The meeting was held at the residence of the Leader of the Opposition on Dhaka’s Minto Road, ahead of the alliance’s Dhaka-Rangpur long march scheduled for September 19.
Azad said the Leader of the House had been compelled to speak about the alliance’s programme in parliament following the earlier Dhaka-Chattogram long march on September 5. “Whatever the people want, the opposition is doing that. The increased public trust in the opposition is our achievement,” he said.
Alliance leaders and activists will gather at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka at 7:00am on September 19, Azad said. The march towards Rangpur will set off after an opening rally that will run until 8:00am.
Five roadside rallies are planned along the route: at the Board Bazar intersection in Gazipur, Nagar Jalfai near the bypass in Tangail, the Chowrasta at Hatikumrul in Sirajganj, Charmatha in Bogura, and Palashbari in Gaibandha. The programme will conclude with a rally at Rangpur Zila School ground.
The alliance’s first long march, from Dhaka to Chattogram on September 5, similarly featured a series of roadside rallies before ending with a concluding rally at Laldighi Maidan in Chattogram.
Azad said the alliance’s original six-point demand, announced during the first long march, has now grown to seven points, with a new demand to stop corruption, extortion, land grabbing and terrorism. The seven demands are: Immediately forming and convening a Reform Council by implementing the referendum verdict, Ensuring swift and visible justice for the July mass killings, Improving law and order, Resolving the electricity, fuel and fertiliser crises, Controlling commodity prices, Ending narrow partisanisation, Stopping corruption, extortion, land grabbing and terrorism
Azad alleged that although the opposition had proposed forming a special committee and submitted 10 proposals to address the fuel and oil crisis, the government had not acted on them. He claimed industries were shutting down because of the gas crisis, that fertiliser shortages were putting agricultural production at risk, and that the government had failed to rein in commodity prices.
“Street programmes are continuing because no effective solution has been found, despite discussions on the issues in parliament,” he said.
Asked about political opponents and critics mocking the alliance’s “long march” as a “long drive,” Azad hit back, saying such remarks were an attempt to stop the programme by other means after failing to halt it directly.
“When you cannot stop something by any means, you try to stop it with a word bomb. But this bomb will not explode,” he said.
He maintained that the objective of the long march was not to topple the government but to press for the people’s demands and hold the administration accountable.
Azad also questioned recent rallies held by leaders and activists of the Awami League, warning that delays in trying “fascist forces” over the July mass killings would only embolden them further.
“Does the government have no intelligence agencies, no ministries, no ministers or government officials? Are they asleep, or are they sleeping with their eyes open?” he asked.
He further questioned how large rallies could be held in areas such as Gulshan – including near a BNP office and within the BNP chief’s electoral constituency – and demanded that the government clarify whether there was any understanding or alliance between the ruling party and the Awami League.
