Why should BNP take responsibility of JaPa, questions Rizvi

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has dismissed the notion that his party is responsible for protecting the Jatiya Party, saying those who supported authoritarianism cannot expect protection from the BNP.

Speaking at a discussion held at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Rizvi said, “It is not BNP’s responsibility to protect the Jatiya Party. They fully cooperated in establishing Sheikh Hasina’s fascist regime. We will not provide protection to those who enabled fascism.”

The event was organized by the ‘Uttaranchal Chhatra Forum’ to mark the imprisonment release day of BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.

Rizvi’s remarks came in response to a recent statement by Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Patwari, who claimed that protecting the Jatiya Party was BNP’s duty.

Criticizing Patwari’s comments, Rizvi said, “BNP is not in power. There has yet to be a fair election. What responsibility are you referring to? Why should BNP take charge of the Jatiya Party? Where were you when BNP leaders like Ilias Ali, Chowdhury Alam, and Saiful Islam Hiro were forcibly disappeared? What role did the Jatiya Party play then?”

He also clarified that political participation is a matter of law and governance, not something dictated by BNP. “We do not incite mob violence. BNP does not believe in anarchy,” he added.

Rizvi further criticized the Jatiya Party’s role in past elections. “There were no voters during the 2014 election, yet despite initially refusing, you participated. In 2018, after BNP announced its participation, around 45 of our candidates were arrested. Sheikh Hasina did not want BNP in the election—what was the Jatiya Party’s role then?”

Referring to BNP’s 46th founding anniversary observed on September 1, Rizvi expressed disappointment over the way the late President Ziaur Rahman was mentioned in the media. “Many newspapers referred to him as ‘late’, omitting titles such as ‘Shaheed’ (martyr) or ‘proclaimer of independence’. This is unacceptable for someone who sacrificed his life to establish multiparty democracy.”

The discussion was chaired by Atiqur Rahman Ruman, chief adviser of the Uttaranchal Chhatra Forum. Also present were Professor Moudud Hossain Alamgir Pavel, convener of BNP's Media Cell, and Kader Gani Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), among others.