DHAKA, Oct 30, 2023 (BSS) - Awami League General Secretary (AL) Obaidul Quader today said BNP has taken the path of conflict in the name of movement as it wants to foil the upcoming general elections.

"We don't want to hold the elections without BNP. The polls will be held as per the rules and it will not wait for any one. BNP wants to foil the elections. Those who want elections can never follow such the path of conflict. The election train will leave in November," he said.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, was addressing at the AL's joint meeting at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue central office here.

In the opening speech, he said the main aim of BNP is to foil the elections as it is unwilling to participate in it.

"They (BNP leaders) would not have done such terrorist acts if they wanted elections. Brutality is the true nature of BNP. They did not spare any one including police and journalists," he said.

Quader said BNP has declared road, waterway and railway blockade programme from Tuesday to Thursday but its general secretary is in jail.

"Who will lead this blockade programme?" he questioned.

He said BNP has committed such some visible crimes in the name of movement, which are more terrible that the atrocities being committed against innocent people in Gaza today.

"Our women workers were not spared from their torture. Many hauled their clothes and may hit and beat them," the AL general secretary claimed.

If the next general election is held in the current context of the country, he said, the Awami League's victory is certain under the leadership of AL President Sheikh Hasina.

Quader hoped that the AL would win in the next national polls with a huge margin and would form the government for the fourth consecutive time.
"No one can defeat us if our leaders and workers remain united.

 The Awami League's victory is certain if it has the spirit that AL leaders and activists showed for the past few days," Quder said.

About the BNP's torture on journalists, he questioned: "Are the journalists tortured for writing about their true nature?"
The AL general secretary said journalists will write what they see and asked it is their crime. "BNP men attacked them for this. Those who have conscience speak the truth and pursue the truth. Such people are not good in the eyes of BNP men," he said.

AL presidium members Advocate Qamrul Islam, Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, Information and Broadcasting Minister and AL joint general secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud, joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretaries BM Mozammel Haque, Mirza Azam, Afzal Hossain and Sujit Roy Nandi, cultural affairs secretary Asim Kumar Ukil and science and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur were, among others, present.