Home ›› 04 Nov 2022 ›› Governance
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that his party is different from Jamaat-e-Islami in terms of ideology and political principles.
“We believe in democracy, religious freedom and religious values of all religions. But Jamaat does politics to establish Islam and it doesn’t match with us,” Fakhrul said in an exclusive interview with UNB at his Uttara residence this week.
He, however, said that there are many equations and polarisations in parliamentary politics.
“The main issue here is the number or 151 seats,” he said.
Every party, he said, tries to get 151 seats and that’s why parties make alliances with Jamaat or reach an understating with Jamaat without forging an alliance. “Awami League had a clear relationship with Jamaat when it waged a movement against us in 1994-1996.”
The BNP leader said their party had an electoral alliance with Jamaat, but not an ideological one. “Our politics will depend entirely on our interests. We’re now going to wage our simultaneous movement independently but not under any alliance.”
He also said Awami League talks against Jamaat only to make political gains, but it has not so far taken any step to ban the party.
Replying to a question, Fakhrul said their party wants all opposition parties, including the left-leaning and Islamic ones, to participate in the simultaneous movement to force the AL government to resign paving the way for holding the next general election under a neutral caretaker administration.
Fakhrul said talks are underway on proposal to form a national government with all parties after a credible election. “It can be in the name of the national government or coalition government. The crisis created by Awami League in the country is difficult for any single political party to solve. If there is no national consensus then it will not be easy to overcome the problems.”
He claimed that BNP has already been able to create a solid ground for a successful ‘simultaneous’ movement. The pro-democratic political parties this time have no scope to step back from the street agitation for a polls-time neutral government.
He, however, said their party does not want any such situation to emerge in Bangladesh that can hinder democracy as they are still looking for a peaceful solution and a responsible role from the Awami League government as BNP did in 1996 by accepting a popular demand for the caretaker government.
About India, Fakhrul said his party considers the neighbouring country as a special friend of Bangladesh as it had major contributions to the 1971 Liberation War of the country. “As a major political party, BNP always recognises it...but we don’t expect interference of India or any other country in the internal politics of Bangladesh. We want the democratic countries of the world to keep their role so that Bangladesh can run democratically, and people can establish their rights.”
He said the democratic countries also should think whether they will deepen their relations with the people of Bangladesh or with only the government.
“As India is a democratic country and our close neighbour, we think it should not take any stance against the hopes and aspirations of the people of Bangladesh. We also expect that India as our friend will not go against any efforts to give democracy an institutional shape in Bangladesh,” he said.
Speaking about the new Election Commission Fakhrul said the problem lies with the Awami League government more than the election body.
