Hasina swats away criticisms, says world looks up to Bangladesh for its development strides

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brushed aside criticisms, saying the international community looks up to Bangladesh as a development role model.

She slammed the critics while speaking via video conferencing at a discussion organised by the Awami League on Tuesday to mark Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day.

“Bangladesh is advancing now. The international community calls it a development role model. But some people are continuously barking in our country. Let them bark. Nothing will come out of their doing so.”

The prime minister said the critics have developed a habit of having a pop at the Awami League whenever it does something good for the country. “Because the ghosts of the people who did not want Bangladesh to be independent, who wanted to destroy Bangladesh and its development still exist in society.”

“They exist in the political arena and are doing it [criticising the government]. They are complaining in foreign countries, feeding them (mis)information.”

Hasina said her government has established a Digital Bangladesh and the critics are taking its advantage to damage the Awami League’s image at home and abroad.

“Those who cannot tolerate Bangladesh’s development are always saying that nothing has been achieved. This is what I tell them – please look in the mirror and think about what you had done in the past.”

The prime minister criticised the BNP for defending its Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, noting that Khaleda has been convicted of graft and Tarique of corruption and a deadly grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004.

She claimed the Awami League stopped people from going hungry whenever it came to power.

“Old clothes needed to be brought from abroad for the poor during the rules of military dictators Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad, and Khaleda Zia. We don’t need to do this now.”

She urged all to take a vow to build a developed Bangladesh free of hunger as dreamt by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.