Senior joint secretary general of the BNP Advocate Ruhul Kabir, said that BNP has no connection with the statement made by the party's standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku about 'Secularism-Political Islam' and 'Jamaate-e-Islami' published recently in the Indian English daily ‘the Hindu’.
He said this in a statement sent to the media on Saturday (November 11).
The statement said, "In a recent interview given to an English daily in India, 'The Hindu', the statement given by the member of the National Standing Committee of the party, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, about secularism-political Islam and the opinion given about Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, those statements and opinions are solely his own. The party has no connection with it.
He said Bangladeshi nationalism is the main basis of BNP founded by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman. BNP is a liberal democratic political party that believes in people-based democracy, social justice, economic liberalism and religious and cultural freedom of all religions.
An interview of Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku was published in 'The Hindu' newspaper on November 8 titled 'Bangladesh democracy should be supported again like in 1971'.
In that interview, Tuku said, BNP is a secular political party, which opposes 'political Islam'. BNP is a liberal democratic party. Our alliance with Jamaat is the same as political alliances in a democratic country like India. That is in the past now. Now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should be questioned as to why she did not ban Jamaat and the answer should be sought from her.
After the publication of Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku's interview, various rumors were created between the party and the like-minded alliance. In this context, a statement came out clarifying the position of the party.