Sunday, 03 August, 2025
BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Saturday warned that if the transition to democracy is delayed further, the people of Bangladesh will rise up again.
“I urge the interim government, you please, do not prolong the path to democratic transition. If you do, the people of Bangladesh will rise again,” he said while addressing a discussion.
Dr Moyeen, a member of the BNP Standing Committee, said the people of Bangladesh fought for independence in 1971 because they knew democracy could never flourish under Pakistan's rule.
He reminded the government that the people and pro-democracy political parties of Bangladesh have been struggling for the past fifteen to sixteen years to restore democracy.
“Has that expectation been fulfilled? No… not even in the past one year. Why not? We have seen examples in the past where fair and neutral elections were held within 90 days. We have that precedent right before our eyes,” the BNP leader said.
The Revolutionary Workers Party organised the discussion titled ‘Looking Back at Bloody July–August: Expectations and Realities’ at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) auditorium.
Dr Moyeen questioned why, even after one full year, the country has not been able to move forward in its democratic transition.
“I often fear whether this new arrangement may turn into a permanent one. We want change, but not all change is true change. Back in 1/11, we saw banners and festoons across Dhaka calling to change everything, to overhaul everything. But not everything in the world can or should be changed,” he said.
The BNP leader said when many people talk about change it should not be changed for the sake of change.
“When we talk about reforms, I say reforms must not be superficial. Cosmetic changes will not change the fate of 180 million people. You may amend a few lines of the Constitution—or even rewrite the whole document—but it won’t matter unless the hearts of the people who run this country change,” he observed.
Revolutionary Workers Party General Secretary Saiful Haque said while caretaker governments in the past could hold elections within three months, even after one year has passed, citizens still lack confidence in whether a free and fair national election can be held under the current situation in the country.
“We did not anticipate that the current government would let the entire situation spiral out of control like this. Inequality has not been reduced — it has spread even further. Poverty has increased, the number of people going without food has gone up, unemployment has risen, and the overall investment climate has reached a negative point,” he said.
Amid this bleak outlook, Haque pointed to one piece of seemingly good news — that the United States reduced its tariff on Bangladeshi goods from 35 percent to 20 percent.
“But we don’t know what was exchanged in return. We don’t know what Bangladesh had to offer. If the deal involved any compromises that could pose a risk to our future security, the government must bring it before the public and inform the nation. They should disclose what political factors played a role behind this tariff reduction and present the facts to the people,” he said.
Haque warned that the longer the election is delayed, the greater the risk of security threats both inside and outside Bangladesh.
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BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Saturday warned that if the transition to democracy is delayed further, the people of Bangladesh will rise up again.
“I urge the interim government, you please, do not prolong the path to democratic transition. If you do, the people of Bangladesh will rise again,” he said while addressing a discussion.
Dr Moyeen, a member of the BNP Standing Committee, said the people of Bangladesh fought for independence in 1971 because they knew democracy could never flourish under Pakistan's rule.
He reminded the government that the people and pro-democracy political parties of Bangladesh have been struggling for the past fifteen to sixteen years to restore democracy.
“Has that expectation been fulfilled? No… not even in the past one year. Why not? We have seen examples in the past where fair and neutral elections were held within 90 days. We have that precedent right before our eyes,” the BNP leader said.
The Revolutionary Workers Party organised the discussion titled ‘Looking Back at Bloody July–August: Expectations and Realities’ at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) auditorium.
Dr Moyeen questioned why, even after one full year, the country has not been able to move forward in its democratic transition.
“I often fear whether this new arrangement may turn into a permanent one. We want change, but not all change is true change. Back in 1/11, we saw banners and festoons across Dhaka calling to change everything, to overhaul everything. But not everything in the world can or should be changed,” he said.
The BNP leader said when many people talk about change it should not be changed for the sake of change.
“When we talk about reforms, I say reforms must not be superficial. Cosmetic changes will not change the fate of 180 million people. You may amend a few lines of the Constitution—or even rewrite the whole document—but it won’t matter unless the hearts of the people who run this country change,” he observed.
Revolutionary Workers Party General Secretary Saiful Haque said while caretaker governments in the past could hold elections within three months, even after one year has passed, citizens still lack confidence in whether a free and fair national election can be held under the current situation in the country.
“We did not anticipate that the current government would let the entire situation spiral out of control like this. Inequality has not been reduced — it has spread even further. Poverty has increased, the number of people going without food has gone up, unemployment has risen, and the overall investment climate has reached a negative point,” he said.
Amid this bleak outlook, Haque pointed to one piece of seemingly good news — that the United States reduced its tariff on Bangladeshi goods from 35 percent to 20 percent.
“But we don’t know what was exchanged in return. We don’t know what Bangladesh had to offer. If the deal involved any compromises that could pose a risk to our future security, the government must bring it before the public and inform the nation. They should disclose what political factors played a role behind this tariff reduction and present the facts to the people,” he said.
Haque warned that the longer the election is delayed, the greater the risk of security threats both inside and outside Bangladesh.
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