Rizvi for elections soon to restore democracy

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed today (9 October) urged the interim government to take steps to hold the general elections soon aimed at bringing back the country's politics to the fair trend of democracy.

He made the call while distributing leaflets among the people in the city's Pallabi area to raise mass awareness to prevent dengue.

"There is reluctance in somewhere, no longer it can happen. If anyone from you wants to work with other intentions, then I want to say - we did not say the final farewell to the movement. We will let you hear the whimper of the storm of movement," Rizvi Ahmed warned the interim government.

He added: "If you do not correct yourself and if there is any secrecy over reforms and elections, you (interim government) will have to listen to the sound of the storm of resistance. So, you should arrange the elections fast to bring back politics into the fair trend of democracy."

The BNP senior joint secretary general said BNP and its like-minded political parties as well as the people from all strata of the country supported the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

"If this government fails, democracy and the people will fail. The people do not want the return of black sheep like Sheikh Hasina," he added.

Rizvi Ahmed said BNP is a big political party and it kept the movement of establishing democracy alive through continuous struggle for the last 16/17 years. 

As a result, he said, many BNP leaders and activists were the victims of enforced disappearances and killing by ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina. 

Sheikh Hasina's police forced many BNP men to be crippled by breaking their arms and legs and made them blind, the BNP leader said.

It seems that some advisers are trying to see this party (BNP) with one eye, he added.

Noting that the people are eagerly waiting to vote, Rizvi Ahmed said, "We want the interim government to be successful, but if the elections are prolonged in the name of success and in the name of reforms, the people will doubt them".

BNP Health Affairs Secretary Dr Rafiqul Islam, central leaders Nazim Uddin Alam and Saiful Alam Nirob, Dhaka Metropolitan North BNP's former Member Secretary Aminul Haque, National Executive Committee Member Tabith Awal, Jubo Dal leaders SM Jahangir and Mehbub Masum Shanto were present, among others, on the occasion.