BNP MP tells supporters to divorce wives for voting Jamaat, video goes viral
He alleged that some leaders had cast votes for Jamaat in exchange for Tk500 and claimed he had information about their activities.
BNP Executive Committee member and Cumilla-10 MP Mobasher Alam Bhuiyan has said party activists to divorce their wives for voting Jamaat-e-Islami, triggering widespread criticism after a video of his remarks surfaced online today (25 January).
"Your wife voted for Jamaat, and now you have come here to attend iftar. How can you live with her? Divorce her," he said yesterday (24 February) at an iftar event organised by Lalmai upazila BNP.
The video of the speech went viral on social media the following day, sparking debate and condemnation.
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Mobasher said that some "hypocrites", including senior leaders of his own party, had financed Jamaat and that some of their wives had voted for the party.
"Wives need to seek permission from their husbands even when they have to pray nafl prayer, and you [referring to the wives] voted without permission," he said.
He further alleged that some leaders had cast votes for Jamaat in exchange for Tk500 and claimed he had information about their activities.
When contacted for comment, Mobasher said his remarks were intended as a warning.
"I discipline them as I love them. I said those things to make them cautious. Saying 'divorce' does not make it happen. It was a figure of speech," he said.
He added that those he referred to had not been under proper family discipline, and that he had cautioned them in his capacity as a "family head."
