Staff Reporter :
The Vice-Chairman of the main opposition party, BNP, Major (Retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, disclosed that cricketer Shakib Al Hasan approached him expressing his interest in joining the newly-formed political party BNM.
However, Hafiz advised Shakib to carefully consider his decision, highlighting the importance of balancing his sports career with potential political involvement.
Hafiz shared these details during a press conference held at his residence in Banani on Tuesday, aiming to dispel rumors surrounding his own alleged association with the Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), particularly in light of a circulated photo featuring him alongside Shakib. Major Hafiz further elaborated that BNM had been established five months prior to the January 7th election through the efforts of three to four retired military officers.
He revealed that these officers, acting upon government directives, persistently approached him with the proposition to join BNM, even going so far as to introduce Shakib as part of their efforts. Despite their entreaties, Hafiz made it clear that he discouraged Shakib from pursuing political involvement.
Overall, Hafiz’s remarks shed light on the political landscape and the intricacies of his interactions with both Shakib and the proponents of BNM, aiming to provide clarity amidst swirling speculation and rumors.
“There is nothing to hide. They approached me to join BNM but I refused. I said to them clearly that it is not possible to change party as I involved politics in 32 years,” Major Hafiz said.
“I said it to senior leaders of my party-BNP about the matter,” he said.
“The then Information minister Hasan Mahmud claimed that I was joining BNM, then I had protested organizing a press conference here,” Hafiz said.
“What have I done? Have I joined BNM? Have I split the party?” questioned Hafiz.
“Now, there are attempts to create confusion and spread propaganda by spreading a photo with Shakib Al Hasan,” he said.
Several media recently published reports suggested that Hafiz Uddin Ahmed was instrumental behind the scenes in forming BNM, with Shakib Al Hasan joining the party.
Pointing to these reports, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said, “There is no democracy in the country. Politics is extremely dirty. Various strategies are employed.”
“Whichever party is in power, they try to harm the opposition by enticing some people away and integrating them into their own party or another, in order to cross the electoral hurdle,” he said.
There are no shortcuts in politics. Nothing could be done in politics without involving people, he added.
Hafiz also said important individuals from the ruling party started contacting him six months before the January 7 elections.
They saw that I sometimes had differing opinions on the policy-making issues of BNP. They assumed that I was eager to leave BNP,” he said.
“I was commerce minister in the last term of our party government. I never asked people to iftar with boroi instead of dates. I never allowed syndicates in essential commodity markets,” he said.”