Rizvi urges opposition to refrain from destabilising country in the name of political programmes

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Friday said holding long marches and other political programmes is a democratic right but urged opposition parties to refrain from deliberately creating instability in the country in the name of political programmes.

“There will be programmes in a democracy, and there will be programmes of the opposition. You will speak in Parliament and outside Parliament as well; there is no objection to that,” he said.

“But give an alternative on how the gas and electricity crisis can be resolved. Creating planned instability or deliberately bringing the country to a standstill, however, is not right,” Rizvi said while addressing the ceremony to take charge by the newly elected executive committee of Bangladesh Dance Artistes Association at the auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

Referring to the opposition, the BNP leader said, “You can hold a long march, but try to establish what is true. You can hold a long march for gas and electricity, that is fine. But the point is, give an alternative, tell us how and from where you will supply gas and electricity. Give us a suggestion.”

“You are in Parliament. You can raise the issue there. You can give a plan about what you will do. But we have not heard this from anyone in the opposition. We are only hearing about programmes,” he said.

“We cannot continue to be part of the rotten political culture of the past,” Rizvi said, referring to the opposition’s announcement of various programmes, including long marches.

He said the era of enforced disappearances, secret killings and extrajudicial killings is no more.

Mentioning that political programmes and opposition activities are an integral part of democracy, the BNP acting secretary general warned, “But if you repeat the past, it will lead us back towards the culture of the past. The darkness will begin to deepen.”

Calling on the opposition to engage in reasonable criticism, he said, “Before launching any programme, there must be a counter-plan. You have to tell the government and give suggestions.”

Rizvi said the government is facing a gas and electricity crisis and it was not created by any fault of the government itself.

He said the current crisis has been caused by the global war, including the conflict between the United States and Iran.

“The responsibility for the global war, the US-Iran war, does not lie with the Bangladesh government. Most of the fuel-carrying ships come through the Strait of Hormuz, but ships are currently not coming because of the risks there,” the BNP leader said.

“As a result, we are unable to bring in the fuel we need, creating a shortage. It has become difficult to operate our power plants and factories, and it has also become difficult to light stoves in households across the country,” Rizvi said.