BJP leader denied BNP meeting in Bangkok in August, Fakhrul tells Indian newspaper

The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP denied the BNP a meeting ahead of the general election, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has told an Indian newspaper.

“We were disappointed. We tried to fix up a meeting with BJP’s general secretary Ram Madhav in Bangkok in August this year, but the Indian side chickened out,” he told The Indian Express in a conversation published on Saturday on the eve of the voting.

“BJP is a right-wing political party, RSS is also there. But we don’t have a problem engaging with them,” it quoted the BNP secretary general as saying.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know why India ignores the misdeeds of the Awami League government which includes torture, (enforced) disappearances etc,” Mirza Fakhrul said. 

He claimed even the common people blame India for helping the Awami League.

“Awami League is a hated political party. But, just because of India, it has survived, it’s India which has strengthened Awami League,” he said.

He also claimed Bangladesh’s police and bureaucracy have “good connections” with the Indian High Commission.

“Indian diplomats in Dhaka feel that BNP has lot to “atone” for what they did, when they were in power. But, Fakhrul is a pragmatic leader,” the newspaper wrote.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir

“We have been reaching out to India, including our Chairperson Begum Zia’s visit to Delhi in 2012. We thought with BJP in power in 2014, things will improve. She had a very good meeting with Modi, but nothing happened after that. There was no follow up,” it quoted Mirza Fakhrul as saying.

“JAMAAT WON’T BE PART OF GOVT”

The BNP leader told The Indian Express that their alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami is “a strategic tie-up” and it would not be part of a future government formed under the BNP’s leadership.

The Jamaat will win only three seats in parliament without the BNP’s support while the number may go up to 50 if the two parties field single candidates of its coalition in elections, according to Fakhrul.  

File Photo

“With them, we have an advantage in 50 seats where the margin is thin and the fight is tough. Without us, they are reduced to just three seats,” he said, with “complete real politik in his mind”.

“No way”, he said on being asked if the Jamaat will be part of a future government.

“During the 2001-2006 regime, the Jamaat-e-Islami, as a party, had been extremely vitriolic towards India, which Delhi is mindful of,” the newspaper wrote.