DHAKA, June 21, 2023 (BSS) - Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said that the undemocratic political evil-forces centering BNP is the main obstacle to country's democracy and fair elections.

He said this in a statement sent to the media condemning and protesting the politically motivated speech of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Referring to the undemocratic political evil-forces of BNP, the minister said BNP always engages in anti-democratic activities in the country as it was born in the army camp in an undemocratic way.

Whenever BNP came to power, the progressive democracy of the country stumbled, he said, adding that on the other hand, Awami League has been fighting hard for long time to establish the democratic rights of the people, including the right to food.

Stating that the voting right of the people of this country has been established by the hands of Awami League, Obaidul Quader said that the country's democracy is in a stronger position now than any time in the past as Sheikh Hasina has remained in charge of running the country continuously for almost a decade and a half.

AL General Secretary further said that the action plan and all other activities of the government have been carried out keeping in mind the hopes and opinions of the people of the country.

"In order to provide a strong foundation for democracy, new democratic institutions have been built along with raising the capacity of those institutions," he added.

About the next general election, he said that the election will be held under the Election Commission (EC) where it is not an issue whether Awami League stays in power or not.

Even during elections, an interim government will be running the country, he said, adding:" And, that government will only perform its routine duties there."

He said that according to the provisions of the constitution, the elections will be held on time and the people will exercise their franchises to elect public representatives.

There is no scope for any deviation to protect the constitutional continuity in accordance with the prevailing democratic system in the world, he continued.

The AL general secretary said BNP always did mockery with the people of this country in the name of democracy.

BNP's founder Ziaur Rahman gave a curfew-based democracy to the people of this country, he said, adding that the ghost of military dictatorship in the guise of democracy was imposed on the people of this country by him.

Following Zia's footsteps, the BNP gifted the nation with the elections of farce without the presence of voters and rigged by-elections to Magura and Mirpur, he said.

An Election Commission led by Aziz was formed and 1 crore 23 lakh fake voters were created in order to seize power by rigging the elections and that is not unknown to the people of the country, Quader said.

BNP has destroyed the democratic culture, democratic structures and institutions of this country, he said, adding that in continuation of that, whenever BNP came to power, it ran a steam roller of torture on the people of this country. 

"All kinds of methods have been adopted (by BNP) to wipe out the opposition," he added.

The best example of which was the attempt to kill Sheikh Hasina, the worthy daughter of Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the center of the democratic spirit of this country, through the grisly grenade attack on August 21.

After coming to power in 2001, Quader said, the BNP-Jamaat government committed indescribable torture on the minorities alongside killing 21,000 activists of Awami League.

The minister said that millions of leaders and workers of Awami League had to suffer unspeakable tortures, including false cases, disappearance and murder, during the regime of the dictators - BNP's founder Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia.