'No point in threatening, did we come to power by force?'

Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was made the acting secretary general of BNP on 20 August, after Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir stepped down and was elected president of Bangladesh.

Two weeks after taking up the position, Rizvi, who is also the political and industries adviser to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, spoke to The Business Standard's Special Correspondent Rashed Nizam at the BNP central office in the capital's Nayapaltan.

In the interview, the veteran politician discussed the BNP government's first six months in office, the fuel, gas and electricity crises, opposition protests and criticism from the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, implementation of the July National Charter, political violence and BNP's disciplinary measures, and the government's approach to democracy and public accountability.

TBS: What is your assessment of the first six months of the BNP government?

Rizvi: Before the election, he [Tarique Rahman] prepared a number of programmes and plans based on the commitments made in various clauses of the BNP's manifesto – sometimes 27 points, sometimes 31 points – as well as madam's [Khaleda Zia's] "Vision 2030" plan. He then set about implementing them.

The government has fulfilled much of what was targeted for the first six months under the overall five-year plan. In many cases, it has come close to the target or even surpassed it.

Take tree plantation, for example. The pledge was to plant 25 crore trees. The target for six months was 2.5 crore, but around three crore have already been planted.

So, from any perspective, whether we look at the dynamism of the government or the leadership of the head of government, we have not seen any slowdown. We have not seen any lag or weakness anywhere.

Questions are being raised about the fuel and gas situation. But this is not a problem created by this government, nor has the crisis resulted from any irregularities committed by the government. It has been caused by global factors, including war. The main problem is also linked to a technical fault at the [LNG] terminal.

Our main source of fuel is affected. War is going on, bombs are falling and mines have been laid in the sea. So bringing LNG here quickly is not easy. It then has to be processed here. To feed it into the national grid, regasification has to be carried out at our terminal. Technical problems emerged there as well. Repairs have been carried out in the meantime. We have to allow time for that.

I would have understood the criticism if this had happened because of some faulty policy of the government, but that is not the case. You also have to mention what the government is doing to tackle the crisis.

The government has allocated an additional Tk40,000 crore so that fuel can be brought in quickly – gas, LNG and diesel. To speed things up, the government has also held talks with Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. Discussions are continuing, and our ministers are travelling there.

There is no question about the government's sincerity in tackling this crisis.

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at his office at the party’s central office in Nayapaltan, Dhaka. Photo: TBS

The 11-party alliance led by Jamaat held a long march on 5 September. It blamed the failure of the BNP government, led by Tarique Rahman, for various crises affecting people's lives, including the ongoing gas and electricity crisis.

You [indicating to Jamaat-e-Islami] suddenly announced a programme. Tell us, what is your plan? If you wanted to resolve the crisis, what would you have done? Raise the issue in parliament and say, "If we were in government, we would do this." If that were an acceptable proposal, surely the government would have listened to it.

I believe an opposition party has every right to criticise the government and organise programmes. I have no objection to that. You can hold programmes. But some of the statements made by their leaders suggest an attempt to destabilise the state and society.

Those who are spreading hatred in society, spreading lies and trying to tarnish individuals through obscene remarks are being supported by the opposition.

That is when we feel there is some ulterior motive at work. If there were no ulterior motive, when a young man in Gazipur made obscene remarks about the prime minister, you would have criticised him. You could have said, "The prime minister should have done this", "Why is the prime minister doing this?" or "It would have been better if the prime minister had allocated more to this sector at this moment."

But you are not making those criticisms. You are making personal attacks and using obscene language. That amounts to a social offence and will come under the law.

Instead of condemning that, however, the opposition has supported him and given him shelter. That is unfortunate.

Leaders of the 11-party alliance, during their first long march, hinted at an 'one-point' movement to bring down the government if the July Charter is not implemented. They have also pledged to 'force' the government to implement their demands.

An ultimatum! Politicians say many things. So I do not see this as particularly significant. What can this ultimatum achieve? They have issued an ultimatum, and the government has heard it. It will not produce any effective result.

What is actually needed is effective work. In a democracy, the opposition is part of the system of government. They can advise the government and offer suggestions on how to tackle crises together. That is what they should do.

But they do not do that. Instead, they support those who hurl abuses, avoid the main crisis, make sweeping criticisms and issue threats while attacking the government. That is what we object to.

They can criticise us. But why say things like, "We will overthrow them", "We will change everything", "Look at how we brought someone down" or "It will not take long to bring this person down"?

Did we come to power by force? Did we establish fascism after coming to power? Did we close down all avenues for people to speak, prevent anyone from forming a political organisation, or stop anyone from holding processions or carrying out political activities? We did not. All of that is continuing normally.

Otherwise, how did you hold the long march? When we held road marches under Begum Khaleda Zia's leadership, the Awami League and Jubo League attacked us at every step. Yesterday [5 September], they went all the way to Chattogram. Did any BNP member attack them? Did anyone confront them? No, they did not.

So it is the BNP that is taking the initiative to uphold the democratic spirit and move democracy forward. And he [Tarique Rahman] wants to do this with everyone; he wants to move forward with everyone.

So cooperate with us on this. Instead of cooperating, you cannot damage the image of a popular government by issuing ultimatums against the positive work it is doing or by spreading slander against it.

Rather, by supporting this person who is spreading slander, I think the opposition leaders who have extended such support have damaged their own image considerably.

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi speaks to The Business Standard’s Special Correspondent Rashed Nizam at the BNP central office in Nayapaltan, Dhaka. Photo: TBS

There is also public anger over the increase in electricity prices. Is there any discussion within the government about this?

Electricity depends on fuel. If we bring in gas and supply it to the power plants, the plants will run. I have already told you about that.

Electricity is an essential part of our national life. And you will see many alternatives emerging, with some already emerging. Renewable energy, particularly solar power, is expanding.

If this expansion happens more rapidly, the government will buy electricity from those who produce additional power, providing a subsidy of Tk10 per unit. Those who produce it will receive Tk10 from the government.

These schemes and these steps, one after another – who can take them? An accountable government can. That is what the Tarique Rahman government, the BNP government is doing.

From January to July this year, a report showed that a large proportion of those injured or killed in political violence were BNP leaders and activists. BNP members have also been involved in clashes with opposition parties, apart from internal conflicts within the party. How are you handling this within the party?

Look, for 17 years there was no peaceful, normal political activity. There was no political environment. People were picked up from their homes and put into crossfire. Some were picked up while returning from the market. They were kept missing for a long time and then their deaths were announced. Many were killed in secret.

People's homes were occupied, fish were taken from their ponds, and no one could say anything. Jubo League and Chhatra League activists would take everything from cattle in cowsheds to goats.

People have been freed from that environment. Some unruly acts have been attempted by some people. But the party has taken strong action against them. Around 2,000 to 2,500 people have been expelled.

What more can we do? And this firm position will become increasingly stronger. Only six months of the government's term have passed. There are still four and a half years to go. You will see that we have moved a long way by then.

We have declared zero tolerance for any kind of violence. Anyone involved will be punished.

Thank you for giving us your time.

I also thank The Business Standard.