How a political party can do politics by burning people?-PM

"The BNP has initiated the culture of burning people to death...it is very regretful. It is my question that how a person who has minimum sense of humanity can commit such a cruel act?,"she pondered.

The Prime Minister was pondering this after exchanging Bangla Nabobarsho greetings with central leaders of Bangladesh Awami League as well as leaders of associate bodies of the party at her official Ganobhaban residence here this morning.

AL Advisory Council Members Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, HT Imam, Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Dr Moshiur Rahman, Prof AK Azad Chowdhury, Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmad and Dr Hossain Monsur, Presidium Member Advocate Sahara Khatun, AL Joint Secretaries Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, Dr Dipu Moni and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Organizing Secretaries AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Ahmad Hossain and Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Col (retd) Muhammad Faruk Khan, Captain (retd) AB Tajul Islam, Dr Hasan Mahmud, Food Minister Advocate Qamrul Islam and Mukul Bose were present, among others.

Earlier, the AL central leaders greeted the Prime Minister by presenting flower bouquets to her.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, said the country went through many "disasters" in the last three months, and the people of the country suffered "julum" and repression for 92 days from January 5 this year.

"Various incidents including burning people to death took place during the period that was not acceptable to anyone," she said.

The Prime Minister said BNP-Jamaat nexus torched trucks, buses and rails and caused damage to the life and property of the common people. "They not only torched the public vehicles, they also burnt the lower and middle-income and general people to death," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said her party does politics for the welfare of the people and protect their interest. "But we witnessed with sorrow such incidents like burning people to death alive in the name of movement which never happened in the past,"she said.

The Prime Minister noted that the good thing was that the common people protested and resisted such cruel acts. "The local people and the law enforcement agencies being united contained the subversive acts of BNP-Jamaat. As a result, we've been able to overcome the situation."

She expressed her firm optimism that recurrence of such incidents won't happen in Bangladesh in future and new year would bring peace for the people.

"We want that the people would no more be burnt to death and they would live in comfort with peace and security and thus the country could prosper socioeconomically," she said.

The Prime Minister also vowed to further advance Bangladesh towards socioeconomic development and build a hunger and poverty-free prosperous Bangladesh through ensuring peace and security to the life of common people.

"It's our aim to make the independence fruitful and reach its benefits to the doorsteps of common people and we are working tirelessly to achieve the goal," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has been established as a role model on the world stage due to its stunning successes in different fields. "May this journey be good, the hopes and aspirations of the people be fulfilled and they be more developed in their life," she said.

The Prime Minister said that it is a matter of happiness that the people irrespective of caste, creed and religion are now celebrating Pahela Boishakh with fanfare and festive mood.

"Not only in Dhaka, the people of the whole country are celebrating the Nabobarsho spontaneously, and whatever days are passing, this spirit is being awakened in their mind," she said.

She said that after assuming office in 2009, her government took initiative to celebrate this day with government initiative in all districts and upazilas across the country.

Referring to the celebration of Pahela Boishakh back in 1400, Sheikh Hasina said that the Awami League took initiative to observe the Bangla New Year of 1400 with much festivity through forming a committee headed by late poet Sufia Kamal, but the then BNP government put obstruction to observe the day.

"But, the party leaders and workers alongside the common people unitedly celebrated that Bangla New Year through observing programmes at Suhrawardy Udyan overcoming the hurdles of the then BNP government," she said.

Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol