Awami League is ready to make any kind of sacrifice for the spirit of the great liberation war, hard-earned democracy, ongoing march of development and progress, voting rights of the people, rule of law and protection of the interests of the people of the country, said Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader. He said these things in a statement given to the media today. Obaidul Quader said Bangladesh Awami League is a traditional democratic political organization.
Bangladesh Awami League has never accepted the responsibility of running the state without the verdict of the people. In independent Bangladesh, only Bangabandhu daughter Sheikh Hasina has transferred power through constitutional and peaceful means. Bangladesh’s long autocracy ended and democracy, suffrage and rule of law were re-established through the movement-struggle led by leader Sheikh Hasina. That is why the people of Bengal lovingly anointed her with the title of ‘Daughter of Democracy’.
Country Ratna Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh Awami League are determined to conduct free, fair and impartial elections. The course of elections, democracy and politics of Bangladesh will not be determined by the will of any foreign power; Similarly, the anti-national forces will not deviate in the face of threats of terror and anarchy. Independent-sovereign Bangladesh has been established through the unlimited sacrifice of the Bengali nation in the great liberation war under the undisputed leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In the statement, he said, the democracy-killing BNP is talking about democracy and fair elections today – even horses lay eggs when they hear it.
BNP has been joking with the people of the country since its birth about Bangladesh’s democracy and elections. BNP, built by dictator Ziaur Rahman, who seized power illegally and unconstitutionally, is a political party traditionally and institutionally against the freedom-democracy constitution and elections. Ziaur Rahman, who seized power at gunpoint in independent Bangladesh, turned Bangladesh’s electoral system into a farce.
He said that Ziaur Rahman introduced ‘curfew marka democracy’ for the first time in Bangladesh by issuing martial law in violation of the country’s constitution. Martial law held the so-called yes/no vote on 30 May 1977, the presidential election on 3 June 1978 and the parliamentary election on 18 February 1979. At the same time the President, Ziaur Rahman ensured his victory in all elections through farce from the position of army chief and chief martial law administrator.
Even after Ziaur Rahman’s murder, BNP amended the holy constitution of the country to elect the president while retaining the then vice president Abdus Sattar in order to ax their power. Following his footsteps, Sadek Ali and Aziz Marka formed the Election Commission with BNP subordinates to hold farce elections while Begum Khaleda Zia was in power. By appointing the identified cadres of the Chhatra Dal as officers of the Election Commission, the Election Commission became a party institution.
In a statement, Awami League MP Obaidul Quader said that today BNP is begging for mercy from foreigners through Mayakanna to influence the election system of the country. The countrymen have not forgotten, in 2006, the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI)’s research and investigation exposed the BNP’s fraud of creating 1 crore 23 lakh fake voters.
Desperate to stay in power, the BNP corrupted the caretaker government system, rigged elections in 2006 through their party president, and was forced to cancel the farcical election of 22 January 2007 in the face of public protests. BNP has always captured state power through assassinations and conspiracies and bloodshed. Behind the demands of the so-called caretaker government, the BNP is again carrying out a conspiracy to seize power through assassination-cue-conspiracy and terror.
