BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has called for an intensification of anti-government movement driven by the lessons of May Day.
Published : 01 May 2016, 07:07 PM
"May Day testifies to rights won at the cost of blood. We must win our rights by following the lessons of May Day," she told a rally organised by the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, the BNP's workers' wing, at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on Sunday.
Khaleda claimed it was her government that had strived to fix a minimum wage for workers and protect their rights, denying any credit to the present government.
She said the present government was 'forcibly' clinging on to power, "imagining that Bangladesh was their ancestral property".
The government of Sheikh Hasina, she alleged, was trying to "do away" with parties and establish "one-party rule".
"They are enacting new laws that will enable them to remain in power forever."
There can be no "fair election" under the present Election Commission, she said. "It is what Hasina is like."
Criticising the government, she said, "They keep harping on development. But what development have they brought about. They steal more than the developmental work they do."
This was the former prime minister’s first public appearance after the BNP held its sixth National Council in March this year.
The last time BNP held a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan was in January 2014.
Khaleda, however, addressed a public rally on Jan 5 this year in front of the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters.