Dhaka BNP leaders come under fire from grassroots ahead of Khaleda's graft verdict

In the meeting Khaleda Zia held with the National Executive Committee to keep the BNP united at trying times, the grassroots leaders have lambasted the leadership in Dhaka for the party’s lacklustre movements on the street.

As the leaders from outside the capital have urged Khaleda to take measures to ensure movement in Dhaka, the BNP chief has said, "betrayals will not be forgiven anymore”.

Khaleda sat with over 450 members of the committee at Dhaka’s Le Meridien hotel on Saturday ahead of the upcoming verdict of a graft case against her.

Speaking at the opening session of the meeting, Khaleda reiterated the party’s demand for a neutral poll-time government and asked the leaders to be ready for ‘peaceful programmes’.

Khaleda faces maximum life term imprisonment if she is convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case verdict on Feb 8. She will also lose the eligibility to run in the next elections if she is found guilty.

With this crucial issue in the backdrop, she told the leaders of her party that she ‘will always be with them’.

Later, the BNP chief held a closed-door meeting with the Executive Committee members.

Forty-two members of the committee spoke at the meeting, according to many of those who attended the meeting.   

BNP leaders observe a one-minute silence to pay respect to political leaders and activists, poets, writers, artists and academics who passed away since the last National Executive Committee meeting at Dhaka's Le Meridien hotel on Saturday. Photo: asif mahmud ove

Speaking to delegates, bdnews24.com has learnt that the grassroots leaders expressed concern over the verdict that it might go against the party chief, and wanted the announcement of protest programmes.

They alleged the Dhaka BNP leaders did not hit the streets during the party’s movements - in 2014 to stop the parliamentary elections and the following year to topple the government.

Loud applauds filled the meeting venue when the grassroots leaders were raising the allegations.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia inaugurates the meeting of the BNP National Executive Committee at Dhaka’s Le Méridien hotel on Saturday. Photo: asif mahmud ove

One of them, from Noakhali, said leaders in Dhaka ‘become silent’ after announcing programmes while those outside the capital have "the ability to shut down everything on Khaleda’s orders”.

The party’s Relief and Rehabilitation Affairs Secretary Haji Yasin Ali from Comilla told bdnews24.com after the meeting: “We don’t want to know what will happen in Dhaka; We don’t want to wait for directives from Dhaka.”

He said he proposed that the former MPs and nomination seekers should stage a sit-in with a large number of their supporters in their areas if Khaleda is convicted ‘wrongly’ on Feb 8.

Joint Secretary General Mojibur Rahman Sarwar from Barisal urged the top-brass to ensure movement of the leaders in Dhaka, and announce and get ready for “tough programmes as they cannot sit idle in case of Khaleda’s conviction”.

Another leader from Kishoreganj said they had “nothing to be frustrated with Khaleda’s trial, but should launch a movement centring the issue”.

BNP Children’s Affairs Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Siddique from Tangail told reporters after the meeting: “The government knows what is in the Feb 8 verdict. We will be there on the streets with the people. We are ready to go to prison if our chief is jailed.”

Organising Secretary Asadul Habib Dulu from Lalmonirhat said he thought they had the ability to launch a movement to stop “any plot centring the verdict”.

The BNP sits out of parliament after boycotting Jan 5, 2014, elections for the first time after the ouster of military dictator HM Ershad in 1990.

It boycotted the elections for the demand for a neutral poll-time government and tension is mounting in the political arena as the party is firm on the demand this time again with the next elections scheduled to be held by the end of this year.     

Though the BNP leaders are saying they will settle the score on the street through ‘peaceful’ programmes if Khaleda gets convicted in the election year, the BNP chief herself expressed doubt over their loyalty.

She said at a programme last month that the party assigned detectives to check what the leaders were doing and on Saturday, she issued a warning against 'traitorous activities'.

“We will identify the traitors who will put their feet on two boats. They won’t have any value. Neither they (ruling Awami League) nor we will take them,” she said

“We have forgiven them once, but forgiveness is not something that traitors should expect all the time,” she added.

Khaleda reiterated the warning in her closing speech too.

Urging the leaders to be alert, she said, “Please don’t do something foolish that can put the party in danger. Remain united.”

Earlier, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam had said they would decide on the programmes after meeting the grassroots leaders.

But after Saturday’s meeting, Organising Secretary Dulu said they were yet to take the decision on the programmes.

“But we must have protest programmes if Khaleda Zia is convicted in a farcical way,” he added.

He also said, "Khaleda will lead the party no matter where her physical presence is."

The BNP leaders had feared arrests after the meeting amid a spree in the past few days over an attack on police by activists.

The law enforcers, however, did not arrest anyone after the meeting despite heavy presence surrounding the venue.