The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina must resign this time.

‘We have started [our] movement, this time Hasina must resign. Power has to be handed over to a neutral government,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said while addressing the party-hosted divisional mass rally in Rajshahi at the Hazi Muhammad Mohsin Government High School ground, also known as the Madrassah Maidan.

He said that the next Jatiya Sangsad elections will be held under that caretaker government and parliament will be formed with the representatives of all groups that would take part in the street movements while the government will reform the country’s economy.

Fakhrul said that at least 600 BNP leaders and activists went missing during the rule of the Awami League.

‘This is the character of this government. In this way, they want to eliminate the opposition party. Is it eliminated? Are Rajshahi people scared? We must win this fight. There is no alternative,’ he went on to say.

Commenting that the Awami League is no longer a political party, Fakhrul said, ‘It has become a party of looters. They looted everything and made a mountain of wealth, making the common people poor.’

A few days ago a group of farmers were taken to jail for taking a Tk 25,000 loan each while the ruling party people are looting thousands of crores and emptying the banks but no action was taken against them, Fakhrul further said.

‘I read in newspapers a few days ago that Islami Bank was emptied as money was lent to nine hidden companies. The government is systematically destroying the economy and has destroyed our political structure,’ he said.

Reminding that the Awami League had gone on a strike for 173 days to demand the caretaker government system when the BNP was in power, he said that 11 people were killed in a bus with gunpowder at that time.

Then prime minister Khaleda Zia gave a caretaker government, he said, adding that five elections were held under this caretaker government.

‘What did they [ Awami League] do after coming to power? That system was annulled. Why? They realised after some time that people didn’t like them because of corruption, looting. So, it reverted to the provision of elections under the party government,’ he added.

People of the country, Fakhrul said, want the caretaker government provision back and elections should be held under a party-neutral government, otherwise there will be no elections in this country.

Regarding the BNP’s divisional rally in Dhaka on December 10, Fakhrul said, ‘The government is afraid of the BNP rally at Naya Paltan on December 10.’

‘The programme of BNP mass gatherings will end with the planned rally in Dhaka city on December 10. The BNP wanted to hold the event in front of the BNP central office in Naya Paltan on that day, but they were given permission at Suhrawardy Udyan,’ Fakhrul said.

‘The minds of thieves are like this. They see nightmares if anything will happen,’ he said.

The BNP has been holding mass rallies at the divisional level to protest against the abnormal increase in the prices of daily commodities, including fuel oils, and the killing of five party leaders and activists as well as to demand the release of Khaleda Zia and to press for parliamentary elections under a non-party neutral government.

The first divisional mass rally was held in Chittagong on October 12.

Later, rallies were held in Mymensingh, Khulna, Rangpur, Barisal, Faridpur and Sylhet.