Isolated BNP is afraid of elections: Hasan

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud Wednesday said the BNP is scared of elections as the party becomes isolated from the people. “BNP becomes isolated from the countrymen. For this, they are afraid of elections and raising various questions over the Election Commission (EC). They have no relations with the people and they become isolated from the countrymen due to their destructive politics. That’s why, they don’t want to take part in elections,” he said.

The minister stated these while replying to a query of journalists at Bangladesh Press Institute (PIB) in the capital.

Hasan said, in fact, the BNP does not want polls as their party leaders are convicted that Begum Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman could not take part in the polls as per the Constitution of the country. They have no interest in elections as the duo couldn’t take part in polls, he added.

In fact, he said, the demand of an election-period government is nothing but excuses. “You all know that they (BNP) tried to resist the 2014 elections. Even, they declared not to take part in the 2018’s polls. But later they took part in the polls (2018) to make it (elections) controversial,” he added.

The minister said Dr Zafarullah Chowdhury was addressed different meetings of BNP and all know that he is an advisor of BNP. The new chief election commissioner (CEC) has been made from his (Zafarullha) list and he expressed his satisfaction and urged all parties including BNP to keep confidence in the CEC, he added. But now the BNP is also denying Dr Zafarullah, said Hasan, also Awami League joint general secretary.

Earlier, the minister joined a seminar organized by News Broadcasters’ Alliance (NBA) Bangladesh at an auditorium of PIB.

In his speech, Hasan said about 34 crore people are speaking in Bangla across the globe and the position of the language is seventh in the perspective of population. Great Poet Rabindranath Tagore was the first person who got the Nobel Prize outside of Europe in literature, he added.

He said it is very important to present pure Bangla in all sectors including in news presentation and the media houses have responsibility in this regard.  The minister put emphasis on regular training on this issue.

He said the journey of private television in the country began after Bangabandhu’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assumed office in 1996. Currently, 45 television channels got license while 35 are on air, he added.

PIB director general Zafar Wazed, journalists Syed Ishtiaq Reza and Manash Ghose addressed it as special guests with NBA president Mumtahina Hasnat Ritu in the chair. Presenter Jafar Sadiq presented the keynote paper in the seminar.

Later, Hasan joined a function of the daily ‘Somoyer Alo’ marking the third founding anniversary of the newspaper at its office at Bangla Motor in the city. He congratulated the editor, publisher and the journalists on this occasion. Publisher Gazi Ahmed Ullah, acting editor Komalesh Roy and executive editor Harun-or-Rashid, among others, were present.