Leader of the Opposition and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has called on the government to step back from its plan to amend the constitution, warning that any such amendment would be struck down in court and that the government would ultimately be compelled to implement the referendum verdict.
“Will you make another amendment? Court will completely whitewash it… We are not accustomed to, nor are we willing to follow, this futile effort and the mistaken path of the past. That is why we want reform,” he said.
He made the remarks while presiding over a discussion meeting organised by Jamaat-e-Islami at the Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium of the National Press Club in the capital on Sunday afternoon, marking the anniversary of the signing of the July National Charter.
Rahman criticised the government’s move to invite the opposition to discuss the matter in the committee formed to amend the constitution.
He said the ruling party had deceived the 70 percent of the public who voted in the referendum.
“The opposition will not do that. The government will be compelled to implement this referendum,” he said.
Addressing the ruling party, he asked why it was now looking to the constitution.
He said that during 15 and a half years of Awami League rule, parties held some meetings and rallies with the government’s “kind permission,” but failed to oust fascism.
“We could not do it either, and neither could you. That is the reality,” he said.
He said the existing constitution not only gave birth to fascism but was designed to make it permanent, and that the government must abandon its inclination to amend it.
The opposition leader alleged that the BNP had forgotten the lessons of the past after coming to power.
He criticised the party’s stance on the implementation of the July Charter, saying it had submitted notes of dissent on many key reform proposals and was now sidestepping even those on which it had no objection.
He also claimed the BNP did not take a position in favour of a “Yes” vote in the referendum, and that party members at home and abroad were instead instructed to vote “No.” That effort, he said, failed because of the people’s verdict.
Rahman further alleged an electoral understanding between the BNP and the Awami League, whose activities are banned. He said that during the election the BNP had indirectly sought votes from the Awami League.
He claimed a godfather of Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League had said as much, and that a BNP lawmaker from Natore had thanked Awami League supporters for the party’s success in the election.
He also alleged that leaders of the Awami League, Jubo League, Chhatra League and other affiliated bodies had been given important positions in the BNP.
Law and order, cost of living
Rahman questioned the law and order situation, saying a government unable to stop the flow of money, arms and drugs across the border had no competence to run the country.
He said the government was announcing various kinds of cards while people’s lives were being made unbearable by tax burdens and corruption, and that it had no effective plan to rehabilitate returning expatriates or ease ordinary people’s lives.
Extortion and illegal occupation, he said, were driving up prices of essentials. Farmers in Panchagarh sell four bottle gourds for one taka, he said, while the same gourds cost Tk 40 to Tk 60 in Dhaka.
Referring to the attack, vandalism and looting at Radda MCH-FP Centre, a private mother and child health centre in Mirpur, Rahman said the resignation of the lawmaker concerned was not enough and that he must be brought under the law.
He accused the government of trying to shift blame for its “mountainous failures” onto the opposition.
Criticising the government’s concern over the opposition’s programmes, he said that if the long march truly lacked public support, it was unclear why the government was so worried about it.
He urged the authorities not to obstruct opposition programmes or try to impose disorder on them.