Rajshahi Correspondent

BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Sunday said the main challenge for the nation is now to establish people’s rule and ensure their political and voting rights.

“The main goal of the movement was to establish the political rights of people and protect individual freedom. The autocratic regime fled the country in the face of the movement. Now, it is essential to establish people’s rule and ensure political rights. The key way to achieve this is by creating a system where people can directly exercise their voting rights,” he said.

Speaking virtually at the Rajshahi city unit BNP’s biennial conference, the BNP leader said that through such voting, people will decide who will govern the country for a specific term in the future.

He said the interim government is gradually moving in that direction as it has announced that a national election will be held before the upcoming Ramadan.

Tarique said this election will mark the first step towards realising people’s rights.

He, however, said holding elections and forming a government through voting is not enough.

Tarique said people want to know from BNP leaders what the future of the country looks like, what BNP plans to do next because the people of Bangladesh want to place their trust in the party.

He acknowledged the many challenges ahead for the country in the days to come to rebuild the state institutions.

“If BNP is able to form the next government, it will need to rebuild the state, as the autocratic regime destroyed education, justice, law and order, the economy, and healthcare in pursuit of its self-interest,” the BNP leader said.

Stating that BNP was the first to propose state reform, he said BNP presented a 31-point outline containing various reform proposals nearly two and a half years ago during the autocratic period.

The BNP leader said many of the ideas currently being discussed by the interim government’s reform commission were already in the 31-point outline because BNP believed well in advance that the nation needed structural reform.

Tarique accused the Awami League’s autocratic government of organising the healthcare system in such a way that people were forced to go to a neighbouring country for treatment.

He said the Awami regime deliberately ruined hospitals in the country and created scopes for siphoning money abroad in the name of treatment in the neighbouring country.

“We now have to develop our own doctors and nurses so that the people of the country get quality medical services in hospitals in our country,” the BNP leader said.

Tarique said the autocratic government was forced to flee in the face of a public movement after holding power for over a decade.

He said they carried out enforced disappearances, killings and filed false cases against opposition voices, including many present at the event. “Even family members not involved in politics were harassed.”

The BNP leader said not only political activists, but also ordinary people who raised their voices against the autocratic regime were victims of severe oppression.

Tarique said the election system was destroyed at every level, the judiciary was weakened, law enforcement was politicised, and the economy was damaged. “Under the name of mega development, massive corruption and money laundering took place.”

He said jobs must be created for the youth through skill development and education reform.

The BNP leader said small industries must grow, the justice system must be faster, and agriculture needs support with timely fertiliser, fair crop prices, and affordable goods.

Tarique said only BNP can rebuild the country, and people now believe in that. “But to face the challenges ahead, unity is essential.”

He urged party leaders and workers to stay united and maintain public trust through good work and a positive attitude.

BNP Chairperson’s Adviser Abdus Salam inaugurated the council in the morning at the historic field adjacent to the Madrasa ground in Rajshahi.