Nahid accuses BNP of striking 'secret deal' with India

Opposition Chief Whip and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam on Sunday accused the government of striking a secret deal with India to destabilise the country’s hill regions.

“The BNP came to power by striking a deal with India. Now it is destabilising the hills in the same way,” Nahid said at a public outreach programme in Mirpur-10 in the afternoon.

Nahid alleged that BNP is maintaining a clandestine relationship with India, which he said is fuelling unrest in the hills and killing people along the border to put pressure on Bangladesh.

“Whenever India wants to pressurise Bangladesh, it creates unrest through hill separatists, shoots people dead at the border, or else opens the sluice gates of some rivers,” he said.

Expressing concern over the future of the Ganges water-sharing treaty, the NCP chief said, “We do not know what the government is thinking about the Ganges treaty. We have serious doubts about what kind of deal they will make with India.”

Terming the government “illegitimate”, Nahid said it was refraining from implementing the referendum decision in defiance of the people’s verdict.

“We wanted a radical overhaul of the constitution, but the government is amending it instead. They should remember that any future government can declare this amendment illegal at any time,” he said.

He also claimed that by not enforcing the referendum verdict, the government is lending legitimacy to the Awami League.

“The Awami League’s 10th, 11th and 12th parliaments are still legally valid. By not implementing the referendum, the Awami League is gaining legitimacy for its previous rule. Yet it is BNP that had been calling the Awami League illegitimate for years,” he said.

Nahid said his party feared the Awami League would be rehabilitated at the BNP’s hands, with the BNP voluntarily creating space for it to return to politics.

Launching a sharp attack on State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam, Nahid alleged that he became a minister under Tarique Rahman’s “friend quota” and had since established a “fiefdom” in his own constituency.

“He is now announcing mayoral candidates himself, which is completely illegal,” Nahid said.

He also claimed that the current city corporation administrators could not take part in the upcoming local government elections in any way and all those now serving as administrators are illegitimate.