People have rejected BNP-Jamaat alliance for its misrule: Hasina

Awami League president and prime minister-in-waiting Sheikh Hasina said yesterday that the people of Bangladesh gave a befitting reply and rejected the BNP-Jamaat alliance in the December 29 election for its misrule, torture and repression during their tenure from 2001 to 2006.
"They (BNP-led alliance) came to power through a rigged election in 2001 and let loose a reign of terrorism, repression and misrule after assumption of power. The alliance leader (Khaleda Zia) said that Awami League would not get even 20 to 30 seats in the election. But, the people have given a befitting reply through ballots and that’s why they could win only 29 seats this time," she said while addressing the leaders and workers of Chhatra League in a video conference in front of her Sudha Sadan residence in the city.
The leaders and workers of Chhatra League led by its president Mahmud Hasan Ripon and general secretary Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton came to greet Sheikh Hasina marking the 61st anniversary of the students’ front of Awami League.
Most of the leaders of Chhatra League while talking to Sheikh Hasina through a microphone narrated the torture, repression and atrocities inflicted upon them as well as their forcible eviction from dormitories during the rule of the BNP-led alliance government.
In reply, the would-be prime minister Sheikh Hasina assured them that investigation and trial would be carried out against those who resorted to repression and torture on the Chhatra League workers and other students and investigation would also be conducted into the cases filed against those student leaders and workers who were subjected to victimisation in false cases and jailed.
She also promised that the scandal-free examinations in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) qualification would be held and the government officials in the administration would be chosen on the basis of merit and competence from now on.
"We have nominated many women for the Jatiya Sangsad election this time and I presume some 50 percent women will be nominated by the party in future," Hasina said responding to a request of a girl student leader for equal rights for women in all sectors including in politics.
Expressing her satisfaction over the video conference with the Chhatra League leaders and workers, the Awami League chief said, "We have gained a lot through this video conference as I could talk to many at a time by utilising the digital technology. We want to transform the country into a digital Bangladesh soon. I will talk to my people once every day through this modern device after completion of some formalities including the swearing-in ceremony of the new government."
Lavlu Mollah Shishir, vice-president of Surya Sen Hall unit Chhatra League of Dhaka University, informed Sheikh Hasina that in compliance with her instruction, the leaders of Chhatra League had shown an attitude of restraint and tolerance and they took tea with the leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), students’ body of BNP, at Madhu’s canteen of the university despite the fact that JCD activists forcibly evicted many Chhatra League workers from dormitories and tortured them when the BNP-led alliance was in power.
Sheikh Hasina asked as to whether a man could bite a dog after the dog bites him and said they were rejected by the people in the election for their repression, atrocities and misrule.
"They (BNP and its allies) would now take lessons from you as to how crimilisation and terrorism in politics could be avoided with restraint and tolerance in future. I hope they will also take lessons from you for rectifying their misdeeds of the past," the Awami League chief told her student audience in the 45-minute video conference.
Recalling the glorious role and contributions of Chhatra League including in the war of liberation, the historic language movement and the anti-autocracy movement since its inception in 1949, Hasina said democracy means tolerance and students of the country should be enlightened with higher education building them as the future citizens and leaders of the nation.
Awami League presidium member Begum Matia Chowdhury also spoke to the leaders and workers of Chhatra League through the video conference and hoped that an ideal student’s body like Chhatra League would present a digital Bangladesh in the future.