Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said unlike BNP, the Awami League or Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not do politics to satisfy foreign masters.
"Sheikh Hasina-led government is joining BRICS [alliance] for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh. Neither Awami League nor Sheikh Hasina does politics to appease foreign masters as BNP does. Awami League does politics for the betterment of the people of the country," he said.
The minister said this in a statement sent to the media condemning the politically motivated and misleading statements made by BNP leaders.
The Awami League general secretary said the statement of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir about joining the BRICS is nothing but an expression of his ignorance.
"India and Africa are among the founders of the BRICS Bank. It maintains close ties with the west [western countries]. Bangladesh recently received financial support for the country from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)," he added.
Pointing out that BNP has maintained close relations with Jamaat-e-Islam since its inception, Obaidul Quader said, "Traditionally, Ghulam Azam's party Jamaat-e-Islami is a close ally of BNP."
BNP founder Ziaur Rahman brought Pakistani citizen Ghulam Azam from Pakistan to Bangladesh and his (Ziaur's) wife Begum Khaleda Zia granted Bangladeshi citizenship to Ghulam Azam, he said.
He said after the 2001 election, BNP united with Jamaat to form the government and destroyed the spirit of Bangladesh's War of Liberation.
Khaleda Zia waged movement to stop the trial of war criminals, including the top leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, during the trial of war crimes, he said.
Quader said during the rule of BNP, the politics of Pakistani philosophy got stronger in Bangladesh and the process of empowerment of Jamaat-e-Islam started.
Besides, Jamaat-e-Islami became a poisonous tree in Bangladesh under the patronage of BNP, he said, adding that only the conscious or wise people of Bangladesh know that Jamaat-e-Islami is the B-team of BNP.
The veteran Awami League leader further said it was not long ago that BNP created the history of vandalising and setting fire to the houses of minorities for the "offence" of not voting for BNP.
Besides, arson attacks in the name of hartal, killing innocent people by hurling petrol bombs, cutting trees and burning land offices were also carried out by BNP men, he added.
Quader said the BNP leaders have forgotten but the people of the country have not forgotten the violence of BNP.
In fact, to hide these misdeeds, BNP leaders always spread propaganda and blame the people related to the government party in search of fake reason for their self-satisfaction, he added.
