Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in an interview that there is no way to go back to the supervised government system, the right to vote of the people is now in the hands of the people. The government will be formed by the people who vote for them.
Voice of America aired the interview today, Saturday. The interview was conducted by Voice of America journalist Shatarupa Barua. The Daily Star is publishing an excerpt of the interview for readers.
Opposition parties led by BNP have been demanding elections under a caretaker government. You say that there is no scope for this in the constitution but you have the necessary majority in the parliament to amend the constitution. When asked whether you will take any initiative to bring back the caretaker government system by changing the constitution or go to any talks with the opposition party, Sheikh Hasina said, ‘When the BNP elected for this caretaker on February 15, we started the agitation. When the vote steals, then. But then the public wanted it. Then the BNP leader said, no one is neutral except madmen and children. It’s up to them. They were against it.
The second thing is that the election was held in 2008 under the caretaker government. Because BNP created militancy from 2001 to 2006, corruption, their nepotism, money laundering; Emergency is declared in Bangladesh due to various misdeeds. But then this caretaker government came. But they did not give election for two years. Rather, they harass us by filing false cases against us. Then when the election was held in 2008, that election was also held under a caretaker government. How many seats did BNP get in that election? 300 seats are ours. BNP-led 20-party alliance including Jamaat won only 29 seats. And then in the re-election one – 30. So their position is in that place. Their position is in the election under that caretaker,’ he said.
Sheikh Hasina also said, ‘For which they boycotted the 2014 election and committed arson to thwart it. Then they burned people with fire and killed them. As I said earlier, they burned more than three thousand people. They cut down thousands of trees. Cut the road. Thus they ran rampant. About 500 polling stations were burnt, schools were burnt. The judge sitting in the court was killed by a bomb. Lawyer killed. They were wreaking havoc. They boycotted the elections.
‘After that the election of the original 18. Then they participated. There are about 750 nominations in 300 seats. Because one nomination comes from London, one goes from their Gulshan office and one goes from Purana Paltan office. In this way, when two or three people nominated behind each seat, they made a mess and withdrew from the election. They failed in that election too. Out of the few who did the election, they won a few,’ he said.
Commenting that BNP has never held a fair election, the Awami League president said, ‘They don’t want to hold a fair election. Why is the government suddenly demanding their caretakers? The question is, who is their leader? Who will people vote for? People want to see a leader who, if voted for, will run this country in the future. Has BNP been able to bring forward someone with whom they will hold elections?’
He said, ‘They have 20 party alliance including BNP-Jamaat so far but where is the leadership! That will lead the country. The third thing is, election; It is the people’s right to vote. When the Emergency was declared in 2007, it was followed by a High Court ruling that no one or an unelected government could come to Bangladesh. One elected government should be replaced by another elected government. Ziaur Rahman’s seizure of power after August 15, 1975 in violation of the constitution was declared illegal. Then General Ershad thus seized power through martial law. That power was also declared invalid. It is said in that judgment, no one who is not elected can come to the government.’
The Prime Minister said, ‘But it was announced by the Supreme Court. In view of that, this verdict was implemented by amending the constitution. Now how can we return that high court verdict or how can we amend the constitution again? And why should we? Because we have bitter experience. Before this, the events that happened in Bangladesh, either Martial Law – Military Dictatorship; The electoral farce under them, followed by that electoral farce again under the caretaker.’
He said, ‘This kind of incident happens every now and then in Bangladesh, since after the 2008 election, the government was formed in 2009 and today it is a stable situation until 2023; Various terrorist activities, conflicts, fire connections, many things have been done to destabilize it. By confronting them all, when Bangladesh has progressed on the path of socio-economic development and Bangladesh has got the status of a developing country today, it is absolutely essential to implement it. We need an elected government there. Where will I bring the unelected government in the middle?’
‘Once they protested it, now they claim what they will do in the future, there is no right address! Moreover, this method has been ruined by BNP. They increased the age of High Court judges, registered voters with 1 crore 23 lakh fake voters, and did various kinds of misdeeds to install the government as per their wish. None of it worked. Because the people did not accept it. The right to vote is now in the hands of the people. The government will be formed by the people who vote for them. So now there is no way to go back! Now our Constitution also secures the right of the people to vote; The elected government will come instead of the elected government,’ he said.