Dr. Yunus has no authority to issue July Declaration: Farhad Mazhar

Poet, writer, and thinker Farhad Mazhar said that Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus does not have the authority to issue the July declaration.

Mazhar said, "He (Dr. Yunus) is a silent adviser under Sheikh Hasina’s constitution. He is not a leader of the people's uprising but simply a product of it. The students wanted to issue a declaration, but the government lied and prevented them from doing so at that time."

Farhad Mazhar made these remarks on Tuesday during a discussion organized by Ganashakti Sabha at the Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia Auditorium of the National Press Club.

He said, "If this people's uprising fails because of a constitutional counter-revolution, we will continue to fight and move forward with the uprising. From the beginning, we called for the formation of a national government. The young people who faced bullets and sacrificed their lives said, ‘Let’s form a national government, reject Sheikh Hasina’s fascist constitution, and build a new Bangladesh.’"

Addressing the BNP, Farhad Mazhar asked, "Why do you want to keep this constitution? Ziaur Rahman did not want to keep the 1972 constitution, and as far as I know, Begum Khaleda Zia also did not want to keep it."

Addressing the BNP, he further said, "From the beginning, you have focused solely on elections. Why haven’t you aimed to return power to the people? Holding elections does not automatically guarantee a democratic state. Even Sheikh Hasina has held elections. What we need most now is an election for a people's council, which will collectively decide the kind of state we want."

"Will everything be resolved by holding just one election? The state remains the same, the army remains unchanged, and nothing has truly changed," he added.