DHAKA, Dec 23, 2024 (BSS) - BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed has said the autocratic Awami League government deprived people of voting rights for the past 15 years.

“There was no need for elections during Sheikh Hasina's tenure. Sheikh Hasina used to decide who would become MP and chairman. If you get a nomination, you pass. And if you pass, you could loot and seize,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a Doa Mahfil at the BNP's Nayapaltan central office.

Jatiyatabadi Muktijoddha Dal organized the doa mahfil seeking BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s recovery from illness.

Muktijoddha Dal President Ishtiaq Aziz Ulfat chaired the programme, which was moderated by General Secretary Sadeq Ahmed Khan.

BNP Chairperson's Adviser Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Joint Secretary General Abdus Salam Azad, Liberation War Affairs Secretary Colonel (retd) Zainul Abedin, Volunteer Affairs Secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, Saudi Arabia BNP President Ahmed Ali Mukit and Central Executive Committee Member Abdus Sattar Patwary also spoke.

Explaining about reform, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that if a head of government wrongfully orders someone to be jailed or punished, and the judge does not do so, that is reform.

“If DCs and SPs work in the right direction without listening to the wrong orders of ministers and MPs, that is reform. Which did not happen during Sheikh Hasina's regime,” he said.

He said, Begum Khaleda Zia was wrongly sentenced to 5 years by the lower court. The high court made it 10 years. The judge who sentenced her to 5 years in the lower court was promoted, and the judge who sentenced her to 10 years was rewarded by making a judge of the Appellate Division, he added.

And the judge who acquitted Tarique Rahman in a false case has been forced to leave the country, said Rizvi.