Opposition misleading people over July Proclamation: Mirza Fakhrul

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the opposition is misleading people over the July Proclamation, reiterating that the government is committed to implementing it.

Speaking at a memorial meeting at the National Press Club on Friday, July 17, Fakhrul said, "We have always said that we want to amend the constitution. We never said we would reform the constitution. The opposition is misleading the people on this issue."

He said the people have given BNP a two-thirds majority and the party is now running the state based on its manifesto.

The BNP secretary general said the opposition's threat of "street verdict" over the July Proclamation is an attempt to confuse the people. "We all signed the July Proclamation together. All parties that fought the movement together signed it. We repeatedly say that we will implement every word of the July Proclamation. We are committed to it."

Referring to the proposal for proportional representation in an upper house, Fakhrul said they never agreed to it and had called it a betrayal of the nation. "The reform commission brought those proposals without our consent," he said.

Fakhrul said the July Proclamation itself states that the elected party will implement it according to its manifesto. "We are as committed to implementing the July Proclamation as we are to our 31-point demands. The opposition is completely misinterpreting that we do not want to implement it."

He accused the opposition of trying to use the July Proclamation as a tool to gain power. "We hope that July does not become another instrument for coming to power."

Fakhrul also noted that 60 lakh BNP leaders and activists faced false cases, nearly 1,700 were disappeared, and thousands were killed in the anti-fascist struggle.