Abbas threatens tougher movement against govt after declining Covid cases

BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas has warned that his party will launch a tougher movement against the ruling Awami League government when the Covid-19 cases would decline in the country.

"Awami League is lucky that the movement has died down a little due to the rise of Covid infections. Still, people have taken to the streets. The flow of the crowds is breaking Section 144. You will see what a movement is after the coronavirus infections decrease a little," he said at a discussion titled "Bakshal: Black day of the death of democracy" at the National Press Club on Thursday (27 January) afternoon.

Mirza Abbas said, "Bakshal has been re-established in the country. People can't talk. If journalists write, they have to suffer consequences like Sagar-Runi. They have to go to jail. In the name of digital security law, people are being suffocated. Many journalists are leaving the country."

"The new generation doesn't know what Bakshal is," he said.

He further said, "Awami League says, BNP has appointed lobbyists! We didn't know what a lobbyist was. You [Awami League] hired lobbyists to cover up the misdeeds of grabbing power by robbing votes in the dark of night in 2014. You are causing forced disappearances of opposition political activists. You have formed a one-party system taking away the rights to vote. Doesn't the world see this?"

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was present as the chief guest at the meeting chaired by Dhaka city North BNP Convener Aman Ullah Aman. BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Dhaka South BNP Convener Abdus Salam also spoke on the occasion.