The information minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr. Hasan Mahmud said, ‘The election train will not wait for anyone, the election will be held on time.’
He expressed his view while answering to questions from reporters after the felicitation speech at the first anniversary function of the newly published newspaper The Dainik Bangla at a hotel in Gulshan in the capital on Monday afternoon.
The publisher of Dainik Bangla and the founding chairman of Canadian University of Bangladesh Dr. Chowdhury Nafiz Sharafat, Acting Secretary Chowdhury Zafarullah Sharafat, President of Bangladesh Private University Association and Insurance Association Sheikh Kabir Hossain and others were present at this time.
In response to BNP’s standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud’s comment that ‘elections will be held only when the schedule is announced, it is not so easy’, the broadcasting minister said, ‘Actually, BNP wants to corrupt the electoral system in the country. They tried it in 2014 and it failed, if they try it now, the people will suppress it with a strong hand. Most people in Bangladesh support Awami League, those people will not sit. We, Awami League will not sit idle.’
Stating that the election train will not stop for anyone, Hasan said, just like the 2014 election train did not stop for anyone, in the 2018 election, BNP rode the election train sitting on the seat. We hope they will sit well in the election train this time too. And even if they do not ride, the election will be held on time.
Addressing the BNP, the information minister said, ‘It doesn’t matter what any of their leaders said. What matters is, whether the people participated in the election or not. It will be an acceptable election only if the people participate in the election in large numbers.
Despite their exclusion, the people have participated in the city corporation elections, if they boycott the next elections, the people will participate, inshallah. But I hope they too will participate.’
In view of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s statement, ‘BNP will solve the Rohingya problem if it comes to power’, Hashan Mahmud said, ‘When BNP was in power, they could not completely send back the Rohingyas who came in. The Rohingyas who came in 1976-77 are still there, they have now become Bangladeshis. Rohingyas came again in 1991-92 when Begum Khaleda Zia was Prime Minister. Many of those Rohingyas have spread to different parts of the country including Chattogram. And now they are doing seminars to send Rohingyas back.’
The minister said, ‘Actually, they do not want any solution to the Rohingya problem. Because the Rohingya camps have been a fertile recruiting ground for militant groups affiliated with the BNP, they don’t really want this problem resolved. We are trying diplomatically and there is a lot of progress. Inshallah, this problem will be solved.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting wished all the best for the newspaper Dainik Bangla, its members and readers on the occasion of its foundation anniversary. He participated in the cutting of the cake and presented a memento to the editor of the newspaper Chowdhury Zafarullah Sharafat on the occasion of 40 years of his life as a sports commentator.
At this time Dr. Hashan Mahmud said about the media, ‘The country is moving forward today after all the adversities. This success of country, state, people should come on newspapers. Anarchists who portray despair on newspapers harm the state. Of course, the image of the society will be revealed, the failure will also come in the newspaper, there will be criticism, but the success must also be published and promoted.’