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Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said as long as BNP remains under the leadership of its acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, it cannot get back right track.
"Fugitive convict Tarique Rahman is the curse of BNP. As long as he leads the BNP, the party cannot regain the right path. It will remain stuck in the quicksand of errors," he told a view-exchange meeting at AL's Bangabandhu Avenue central office in Dhaka on Thursday.
The meeting was held as part of preparation for observing Mujibnagar Day on April 17. Khulna divisional leaders of the party also joined it.
Quader said it has become painful for BNP leaders to accept the "freestyle" leadership of Tarique Rahman who is giving order from London.
The BNP leaders are now realising that as long as Tarique leads the party, it will stay stuck in the quicksand of mistakes.
The AL general secretary asked Tarique Rahman to come home if he has the courage to do politics here. "If you have courage, come home and do politics. Keep the courage to go to jail. The people will not respond to your call from London," he said.
Even some BNP leaders also dub the party's call for movement as fake, he said.
The minister said BNP has failed in movement and elections while their call for boycotting Indian products has also failed.
"Indian products are in bedrooms and kitchens of BNP leaders. That is why BNP's so-called call for boycotting Indian products is hypocrisy," he said.
Noting that Awami League is the only party which practices democracy inside the organization, Quader said BNP never practices democracy inside the party.
Talks of democracy doesn't suit the party which itself never practices democracy, he said.
The AL general secretary said they are the biggest killers of democracy as they perpetrated the brutal carnage of August 15, 1975.
Now, the killers of democracy are shedding crocodile tears for democracy, he said adding it is farcical that BNP is now talks about democracy.
Pro-BNP freedom fighters didn't utter a single word on genocide in their freedom fighters' rally on the Genocide Day on March 25 last, he said adding they are fake freedom fighters.
“Today, they still continue debate over the proclaimer of independence,” he said.
"Only Bangabandhu got the mandate from the people to proclaim independence. So, nobody else has the right to do so," Quader said.
The AL general secretary said the party will observe Mujibnagar Day on April 17 as it is the spirit of birth of Bangladesh. AL will bear the spirit of birth of Bangladesh, he said.
AL Presidium Member Kazi Zafarullah chaired the view-exchange meeting while party's joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organizing secretaries BM Mozammel Haque and SM Kamal Hossain were present, among others.
Earlier, Obaidul Quader joined a discussion marking the 104th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
AL's sub-committee on health and population organised the discussion with its chairman Dr AFM Ruhal Haque in the chair.
AL's Health and Population Affairs Secretary and State Minister for Health Dr Rokeya Sultana and sub-committee members were present.
On behalf of the sub-committee, wheelchairs were distributed for five hospitals in the function later.