BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Sunday emphasised the need for national unity to support the interim government in implementing necessary reforms.
Speaking at a discussion, he also said all should work together to restore people’s ownership of the country that was snatched by deposed despotic ruler Sheikh Hasina and her family over the last 15 years.
“Those of us who are in politics make various statements and express our views from different perspectives. But the bottom line is that we must support the interim government through national unity to complete the reforms,” the BNP leader said.
He said the nation must defeat the evil forces that have politically, economically, and socially ruined Bangladesh. “So, there’s no alternative to national unity at this moment…we must maintain the consensus achieved through national unity and support the current interim government,” Khosru said.
He said the BNP is committed to returning ownership of Bangladesh to its people and restoring the people’s control over the country. “For the past 15 years, we have promised in our speeches, on the streets, amidst deaths, enforced disappearances, and imprisonment, that we would restore ownership of Bangladesh to its people. We must work to this end in unison,” he said.
The BNP leader said the people, who own Bangladesh, should decide the future course of the country. As politicians, Khosru said they will present their proposals and desires for change to the owners of the country, who will ultimately determine how Bangladesh should proceed. “There is no room for deviation from this principle.”
The AB Party arranged the discussion, titled “One Month of the Interim Government: How It Has Gone and How It Could Have Gone,” at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
Khosru described how the country’s people went through serious suffering and persecution over the last 15 years under the rule of Sheikh Hasina. He said leaders and activists of BNP and other opposition parties were subjected to brutal repression and coercive measures for their efforts to restore democracy and people’s rights.
"After so much sacrifice, we have a free country where we can now speak freely without any fear, and journalists also have no concerns. We must uphold this free Bangladesh we have achieved. We have got a new Bangladesh,” Khosru observed.
After Sheikh Hasina's departure, he said politicians need to understand the shift in the people's mindset. “This mindset embodies the desire to fully restore Bangladesh's political and democratic rights, without any ifs or buts. The people of Bangladesh want to live freely and have a level playing field politically, socially, and economically, where everyone can participate equally,” the BNP leader said.
Stating that 65 per cent of Bangladesh's population is under the age of 35, he said politicians need to understand the thoughts, expectations, and aspirations of this younger population. Khosru warned that those who fail to understand the pulse of the younger generation may find themselves with little space in the country's future political landscape.
