Hasnat Abdullah, a member of parliament for Cumilla-4 and leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has questioned the use of state intelligence agencies to monitor opposition parties, while alleging corruption and irregularities in the BNP government's Family Card and Farmer Card projects.

In a post on his verified Facebook account on Tuesday night, Hasnat criticised the use of the Direct Procurement Method (DPM), questioned the cost of the cards and alleged that the government had planned to spend 20.10 billion taka on a database that could be developed using existing information systems.

He called on the government to keep state institutions free from partisan interests, warning that their misuse could lead the country towards another phase of authoritarian rule.

“Can a prime minister publicly announce that state intelligence agencies will be used to spy on opposition parties? Are state institutions supposed to be committed to any political party, or should they fulfil their responsibilities to the country?” Hasnat wrote, adding that the practice reminded him of the Sheikh Hasina era.

He said diverting state forces from their core responsibilities to target opposition parties and misusing surveillance technology against political opponents were fascistic practices.

Citing media reports, Hasnat alleged that the BNP government was bypassing open tendering and relying on the DPM for almost all major projects, using institutions such as the Bangladesh Army, Navy and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) as fronts while allegedly arranging contracts for BNP leaders.

He warned that the use of military institutions' logos on Family Cards and Farmer Cards could damage the reputation of the armed forces if the projects were used to facilitate corruption.

Hasnat questioned why the cards cost around 300 to 365 taka each when a company owned by a BNP lawmaker reportedly supplied plastic debit and credit cards to private banks for 125 to 130 taka apiece.

“What is the justification for such costs? On top of that, a scheme to siphon off 20.10 billion taka has been set in motion in the name of creating a database,” he alleged.

The NCP leader argued that an extensive database of poor and extremely poor people could be developed using existing information held by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), mobile financial service providers, utility companies and microcredit institutions, alongside household surveys and other records.

He said there was no justification for allocating additional funds to the Ministry of Social Welfare for the purpose when the necessary information could be compiled through existing systems.

Hasnat also questioned the need for a separate, time-bound project to maintain poverty data, arguing that the government required continuously updated information for its routine administrative and policy decisions.

He called for strengthening the BBS so that data on poor and extremely poor people and others in need could be collected directly from source institutions and updated automatically.

He alleged that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman could not be unaware of the projects, given his repeated promotion of the Family Card and Farmer Card initiatives at public meetings and seminars.

Hasnat urged military officers to speak out against the use of the armed forces as a shield for procurement arrangements, arguing that social welfare allowances did not require plastic cards but reliable databases that could be updated automatically.

The NCP leader also accused former prime minister Sheikh Hasina of tarnishing the reputation of Bangladesh's military and paramilitary forces through their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances, killings, crossfire incidents and other extrajudicial killings. He said such practices had also led to international sanctions against individuals and institutions.

Condemning what he described as an attempt to use state agencies to facilitate alleged corruption under the “I Have a Plan” initiative, Hasnat warned the agencies against becoming accomplices in any plunder.

He said the armed forces had moved away, to some extent, from political misuse in the two years since the mass uprising that culminated on August 5, but alleged that Tarique was again signalling an intention to target opposition parties and their leaders through state agencies.

“Bangladesh cannot afford another phase of an autocratic journey,” he wrote.

Hasnat concluded by stressing that state institutions belonged to the people, not the ruling party, and were responsible for serving the entire population, including both the government and the opposition.

Using them to protect the narrow interests of a political party instead of serving the country, he said, would amount to a betrayal of the responsibilities entrusted to them by the people.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, speaking at a rally at Madrasa Ground in Rajshahi, alleged that attempts were being made to incite labour unrest at several locations and industrial establishments across the country.

He said intelligence agencies had clear information that the fugitive former prime minister was financing efforts to stir up labour unrest. He also alleged that several political parties that had tried to sell different kinds of “tickets” to the public before the election had joined the effort.

Referring to the activities-banned Awami League and opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Tarique said, “We have clear intelligence that the autocrat who fled the country is providing funds for this. ... With whose help? There are several parties spreading misinformation in the country. They tried to sell various tickets to the people before the election. These two sides have joined hands. One is providing money from across the border, while the other is sitting here and trying to create instability.”