BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir wanted to know whether the party's chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia was slow-poisoned while in jail.
He raised the question at a rally in front of the National Press Club on Thursday (November 25). The Jatiyotabadi Juba Dal (JJD) organized the rally to demand the release of the BNP chairperson and better medical treatment abroad.
He asked if any slow-poisoning was done to Begum Khaleda Zia while she was a prisoner. We want to know this clearly. Nothing is impossible for them. There is nothing for those who can forcefully stay in power by robbing votes the night before, who can file false cases against 35 lakh people, who can shoot and kill democracy workers, who can cripple our 500 leaders and activists. Not impossible.
Pointing to the Prime Minister, the BNP secretary general said that Khaleda Zia could not go abroad because of one of the ministers. Ministers say, people are saying, everyone is saying there is foreign pressure but she is not listening to anyone. She is not listening to anyone just because of revenge.
He said Khaleda Zia was so ill that it would not be possible to treat her in the country. Not only did Khaleda Zia get out of politics, but the government wanted to wipe her out of life.
Mirza Fakhrul said that the government has pushed Khaleda Zia towards illness by keeping her in an abandoned jail. Today, the leader of the country has become seriously ill due to lack of advanced treatment even after being kept in the hospital.
The BNP secretary general said that the absence of Bangladesh in the meeting of US President Joe Biden on democracy proved that there is no democracy in the country.
Mentioning that lakhs of policemen are being recruited to control the law and order situation, he said that those policemen are recruited on party basis and constables have to pay at least Tk. 20 lakh as bribe. Now he has failed miserably to maintain law and order in the law enforcement agencies. Only in one place did they fail. They are ready to suppress the movement for democracy, the movement for our survival, the movement of the opposition, the movement for voting.
While speaking, the workers called for a strict program from Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Mirza Fakhrul got a little angry and said, "We have to be united, we have to carry out the program strategically, everyone has to take to the streets." The government will be forced to release Begum Khaleda Zia and provide better treatment through a united movement.
The rally was presided over by Saiful Alam Nirob, President of Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal and conducted by Genera Secretary Sultan Salauddin Tuku, it was addressed among others by Convener of Dhaka Metropolitan BNP Abdus Salam, Convener of North BNP Amanullah Aman, Krishak Dal general secretary Shahidul Islam Babul, JJD senior vice-president Mortazul Karim Badru, Joint General Secretary Nurul Islam Nayan, Organizing Secretary Mamun Hasan, Central Leaders SM Jahangir, Kamal Anwar Ahmed, Ghiyasuddin Al Mamun and others were present.