File photo.
Dhaka //

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has alleged that the state intelligence agency is trying to form a ‘royal party’. He said, ‘We are hearing that people from the intelligence agency are working in different places to support someone to form a political party. The people of this country will not accept this incident.’ However, he did not clarify which intelligence agency is trying to form a party.

He made this allegation at a discussion meeting at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Thursday afternoon.

An association of former students of Rajshahi University organized the discussion meeting. BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan was the chief guest. Rizvi said, an attempt is being made to form a party, which is called the King Party. We are still hearing about the efforts made by Moinuddin-Fakhruddin, the work done by Sheikh Hasina with the intelligence agencies.

He said, ‘The intelligence agencies are going to different areas and telling people to contact such and such people. They cannot do this. That is why so many people did not sacrifice themselves (mass uprising). In the current situation, if the state intelligence agencies determine who will be elected and who will form which political party in the country, then what is the point of fighting against Sheikh Hasina?’

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, ‘Sheikh Hasina also did the same thing. She used to intimidate the people of the opposition party from the grassroots to the national level through the intelligence agencies. She tried to remove them (leaders and activists) from BNP, so that they could form another political party, so that they could break BNP. Sheikh Hasina has done this work for 16/17 years through the intelligence agencies.’

He said, ‘Bangladesh is a truly democratic environment, people will vote for the political party they like. People will form the political party they want to form in that way. There will be no instructions, no threats, no state surveillance here – this is what a true democratic society and democratic state is. If the same culture, the same culture like Moinuddin-Fakhruddin, like Sheikh Hasina, is repeated, then people will think that another attempt is being made to create fascism. This cannot be allowed to happen.’

Regarding the Secretariat fire incident, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, ‘On Wednesday, we saw in the newspaper that the government had requested some important documents. This fire occurred late at night after these documents were requested. This has raised a huge question among the people. An investigation should be conducted by a very high-level impartial person in this matter. Because the burning of many documents in the Secretariat and the terrible fire in the Secretariat after Sheikh Hasina and her friends requested some documents have made people think, questions have arisen among the people.’

He said, ‘We are worried about various incidents all around, not personal fears, but our fear is for the state. We have seen before that when there is a public protest against a secretary or minister, the files in the secretariat disappear, and the secretariat catches fire.’

Rizvi further said, ‘A new law has been passed, the National Cyber ​​Security Ordinance-2024. Who passed it? Advisors who worked for rights, student leaders who were in the July movement. I find it surprising how this dangerous law was passed by their hands. This law has given vague and broad powers to agencies and law enforcement. It seems to be an extension of the Digital Security Act.’ BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said, those who are in the government today were established by the people of the country. What are our expectations from them? They will try to solve the problems for the welfare of the people. Addressing the advisors, he said, ‘What is the need to comment on political parties. Will they be opponents? We do not consider them opponents. They are not even worthy of being our opponents. We do politics, they don’t do politics.’

Presided over by Advocate Bahauddin Bahar and moderated by Mallik Md. Mokammel Kabir, former student leaders of Rajshahi University including Habibur Rahman Habib, Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, Syed Shahin Shawkat, Obaidur Rahman Chandan, Ramesh Dutta and others spoke at the discussion meeting.
Expressed their opinions.