National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has questioned the promises and plans made by BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman ahead of the national election, alleging that the current government has failed to improve the country’s situation.

“Our situation is this: the Awami League is abroad, and the BNP is at home. Because of these two forces, the people of the country are not getting their rights back. The possibility of establishing democracy in Bangladesh that had emerged has been destroyed,” he said.

He also alleged that factories were shutting down due to shortages of gas and electricity, while a syndicate was driving up the prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders.

Addressing the current prime minister, Nahid asked, “You said you had a plan. Where has that plan gone now?”

He made the remarks on Tuesday (October 13) at a citizens’ meeting held at the auditorium of Shariatpur Municipality.

Nahid said the past seven to eight months had shown that the prime minister had no clear plan for running the country. He added that the situation was deteriorating day by day.

He said people had expected the government to bring the economy under control and bring those involved in money laundering to justice. Instead, he alleged, new money launderers had replaced the old ones, taking a share of the proceeds and enriching themselves.

Nahid accused the current BNP government of reviving discrimination after the election and running the country in the same way as the Awami League, with corruption, extortion, terrorism and syndicates continuing to operate.

Criticising the Awami League, the NCP convener said the people had rejected and defeated the party through the mass uprising. He alleged that its leaders and activists were now attempting to create disorder in various ways while staying abroad.

He further claimed that the BNP had joined hands with the Awami League before the election. After winning through an understanding between the two parties, the BNP had engaged in what he described as “case business” across the country. He also alleged that votes had been bought by threatening people with lawsuits and that the BNP was using Awami League members involved in terrorism and extortion for its own purposes.

“As a result, we are seeing extortionists and autocrats becoming one and the same,” Nahid said.

Referring to the BNP’s movement against the Awami League and its return to power, Nahid said that if the BNP had been capable of defeating the Awami League on its own, it could have done so during the past 16 years. He argued that the party had failed to build a strong movement on the streets during that period.

Nahid added that the BNP would never have come to power in Bangladesh had students, the public and ordinary citizens not taken to the streets and sacrificed their lives. He also claimed that Tarique Rahman would not have been able to return to Bangladesh from London without their contribution.