Govt helping Siddique, claims BNP

Former minister Abdul Latif Siddique has not been arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiments because of government backing, the BNP has alleged.

The Tangail-4 MP, axed from the Cabinet and the ruling Awami League for remarks against Hajj, returned home on an Air India flight on Sunday night.

He passed the immigration check and was seen leaving the airport in a white car.

Almost a dozen cases were filed against him after he said he was opposed to Hajj in a discussion at New York on Sept 28.

Multiple warrants were issued for his arrest for not heeding court summons.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, when asked about his reaction on Monday, said: “It is clear that he has huge government backing. Otherwise, how could he simply leave the airport? Why wasn’t he arrested?”

The 77-year-old freedom fighter was elected five times from his Kalihati constituency in Tangail. Formerly an Awami League presidium member, he had been the Textiles and Jute Minister in the ruling party’s previous term in power and was given charge of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology.

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Siddique had told the discussion arranged by ‘Tangail Samiti’ that he was as opposed to Hajj and Tabligh as he was to Jamaat-e-Islami.

“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,” he added.

Siddique, who was in Kolkata later, told friend Sukharanjan Dasgupta, a veteran Indian journalist, he had spoken from an economic point of view.