As political conflict intensifies ahead of next year’s election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Monday took an indirect dig at the radical Islamist party, Jamaat- e-Islami asserting that the people of the country have already unmasked a group that seeks to misguide the nation by playing the “religion card”, the local media reported.
“People have identified a party that has no policy, no ideals, and no plan, and is trying to deceive the public in the name of religion. Their real face has already been exposed,” Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, quoted BNP senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed as saying during an event of the party in Dhaka.
Taking an indirect jab at Jamaat, the BNP leader said one particular political party claimed that anyone voting for their symbol could attain paradise.
“Those who want to enter Jannah (heaven) without any effort should first find out where its bus station is. People understand these things,” the BNP leader, arguing that the party has no ideology and is trying to cheat the nation by selling a “religion tablet”.
Earlier on Sunday, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman accused Jamaat of spreading propaganda against his party, saying the people of Bangladesh witnessed how Jamaat killed lakhs of people and dishonoured women in the country’s 1971 War against Pakistan for political gains.
Addressing the same party event in Dhaka virtually, Rahman alleged that Jamaat has misled people with false promises, including claims they could “guarantee heaven in return for votes”.
“We hear some people or some groups nowadays—in different places or on social media— saying ‘We have seen this party and that party, so now give this party (Jamaat) a chance’. But the people of this country already saw this party in 1971,” Bangladeshi media outlet UNB quoted Rahman as saying.
“Those who are now asking people to support—the people of this country have already seen them in 1971. They not only killed lakhs of people, but their collaborators also violated countless mothers and sisters. We must never forget this,” he added.
The parties that earlier collaborated with Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, are now at loggerheads.