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Published : 03 Nov 2023, 10:30 PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has questioned the rise in food prices, pointing out that domestic productions have increased.
She suspects there is a conspiracy to drive prices and then blame the government for the hikes.
Speaking at a Jail Killing Day discussion organised by the Awami League in Dhaka on Friday, the premier ordered identification of and action against “businesses that manipulate the prices and then speak against the government for the price rises”.
The discussion was organised to commemorate four national leaders – Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, AHM Qamaruzzaman and M Mansur Ali – who were killed in Dhaka jail on Nov 3, 1975 after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
But Hasina’s speech focussed on the current political situation and economy amid the BNP’s antigovernment movement ahead of the general election.
Speaking about price rises, she said: “People who hoard products to pickpocket the public must be identified.”
“Production of fish, meat, vegetables, rice, everything has increased. Then why should there be a supply crunch?”
“People who speak against the government after raising prices by hoarding goods must face action.”
Hasina sought to undermine the BNP’s blockade programmes aimed at toppling her government. The party’s similar movement marked by deadly firebombing of buses failed during and after the 2014 election, she said.
She said the people stopped the BNP at that time, and urged them to do the same again.
