New Delhi, Feb 6 Amid mounting attacks on minorities, media reports quoted a top Bangladesh politician as declaring that secularism is not Dhaka’s goal since the word is not “very congenial” for the country’s politics, thus strengthening renewed calls for dropping the word secular from the Constitution.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in a recent interview to news channel Al Jazeera, defended the 1977 removal of the word “secularism” from the Constitution by his party’s founder Ziaur Rahman, quoted Dhaka-based The Daily Star news website.
In the same interview, he has reportedly expressed hope that relations with New Delhi would improve, terming a recent letter of condolence from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “very good gesture” following the passing of former premier of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia.
At the same time, Fakhrul expressed “personal opposition” to banning political parties, including the Awami League or Jamaat-e-Islami, the report added.
The Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League remains banned from political activities in Bangladesh after the regime was toppled in a student-led protest in August 2024.
“Secularism is not our goal,” he said, explaining that the decision reflected the “philosophy of the party (BNP) at that time”, the website mentioned from the interview.
Available reports suggest that the original 1972 Constitution incorporated secularism as a fundamental principle alongside nationalism, socialism and democracy. However, it was removed though an amendment after the 1975 military coup in which Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated.
The Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government restored secularism in 2011 after the Supreme Court ruled that its removal from the Constitution was illegal. The matter is again being heard by the country’s highest court.
The BNP leader was quoted as pointing out that his party’s framework ensures religious freedom itself. Highlighting the country’s demographics, he added that the word “is not at all very congenial for Bangladesh’s politics”.
At the same time, he dismissed allegations of nepotism and corruption against BNP chairman, Tarique Rahman, describing him as the “most capable man” to lead the nation should his party win the upcoming elections.
He rejected the 80 plus cases previously filed against Tarique as “totally baseless” and “politically motivated,” claiming the previous “fascist regime” failed to prove any allegations over 15 years.
“Now the question is when a political party or the leader of the political party has killed not less than 2,000 students and the agitators or the people who demonstrate against them…,” he was quoted as stating. “They involved themselves with and used the state apparatus including the police and others to kill those people. Naturally, there will be demand for those people that they should be tried, and so they were tried.
“It was Awami League in general that were involved in these things. All the ministers, all the members of the party were involved,” Fakhrul stressed when asked on the exclusion of the Awami League in upcoming general election.
“I personally don’t support this sort of banning a political party,” he added, suggesting that individuals responsible for “genocide” should be tried rather than the entire organisation.
On international ties, Fakhrul said the BNP would “diplomatically try” to repatriate Sheikh Hasina from India to face execution of her convictions.
It was here that he appreciated Prime Minister Modi’s gesture in penning a personal message following Khaleda Zia’s death.
The letter was handed over personally by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to the deceased former Prime Minister’s son Tarique Rahman, when the former was in Bangladesh early last month to attend the funeral.
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