‘Siddique has to take his own responsibility’

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique has to return home on his own responsibility if he wants to.

Talking to reporters at Kalihati in Tangail on Thursday, Quader, a member of the Awami League Presidium, said the government would ‘not take his responsibility’.

File Photo

Siddique, who was stripped of the ruling Awami League Presidium and Cabinet posts for his anti-Hajj remarks while in the US, is now in Kolkata, India.

He has been sued in various courts in Bangladesh. A Dhaka court has ordered his arrest in one of the cases.

After opening the Joydebpur-Tangail National Highway at Kalihati, Quader said, “Latif Siddique will lose Awami League’s primary membership if his reply is not logical and acceptable.”

Siddique, telecommunications and ICT minister at the time, drew widespread condemnation after rubbishing the practice of Hajj and Tabligh Jamaat at a programme in New York on Sept 28.

A video clip of him making that statement kicked up a storm as it went viral on the internet.

“So much manpower is wasted over Hajj. Two million people are now in Saudi Arabia for Hajj. They have no work or role in production. They only eat and go abroad using the country’s money,” Siddique was heard saying in the video.

Meanwhile, several Islamist organisations have given the government an ultimatum to arrest Siddique by Oct 22 through Interpol.