Bangladesh: BNP mounts pressure on Yunus, stages massive rally demanding polls by December

Dhaka: Former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) intensified pressure on the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government on Wednesday as tens of thousands of youths staged a massive rally demanding elections by December.

"The national election must be held by December. Preparations must begin immediately," BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman said as he joined the rally through a virtual platform from London, where he currently lives.

He alleged the government’s “delay tactics” in staging elections and push for “so-called reforms” were part of a broader plan to derail democratic processes.

"In the past, all caretaker governments held fair elections within three months. Today, it's been over 10 months and yet, the government has not even announced the date of the election," Rahman said.

The Chief Adviser Yunus-led interim government took charge after the toppling of the former premier Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government's regime in August last year.

Tens of thousands of youths from across Bangladesh rallied in the capital in an apparent show of strength against the newly emerged student-led National Citizen Party, floated with Yunus’ blessings.

The NCP, born out of last year's deadly student-led protests under a platform called Students Against Discrimination (SAD), insists elections must wait until key reforms are completed.

Yunus, currently on an official visit to Japan, reiterated on Wednesday that elections would be held between December this year and June next year, depending on the extent of reforms required.

Earlier this week, his advisory council, effectively the cabinet, issued a statement following an unscheduled closed-door meeting stating that the interim government was entrusted with three primary responsibilities-- “elections, reforms, and justice”.

The “justice” issue is related to the trial of deposed premier Hasina, who is now in India, and leaders of her now-disbanded Awami League party and the government, which was toppled by the student-led movement last year.

Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told the party’s youth rally that there was no scope to delay polls on the plea for reforms.

He said that even if political parties lacked consensus on reform issues as propagated, the next elected government would carry on the required reforms.

“If the justice process remains incomplete, BNP will take the responsibility to complete it,” he said, expressing the party’s strong confidence about its possible victory in the elections.

Another senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas said, "The (interim) government gave us nothing but disregard in the past nine months. We received nothing except neglect in these nine months".

"I want to say one thing — most (advisers/officials) of this government are not even citizens of this country. They are talking about doing many things today. I want to tell them, you don't need to do all this,” Abbas said.

Last week, Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman also piled on the pressure by calling for elections by December and airing dissatisfaction over the political situation.

Zaman, along with the navy and air force chiefs, met Yunus last week and reportedly reiterated their call for an election by December this year to allow an elected government to take charge.

The next day, Zaman held a senior officers meeting at Dhaka Cantonment and said he was unaware of several strategic decisions despite the military’s active role.

The military's reported discord with the interim government was followed by unrest in civil administration, as government employees continued their protests against a proposed law which would ease their termination.