Published : 23 Sep 2026, 04:14 PM
Updated : 23 Sep 2026, 04:14 PM
Leader of the Opposition and Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman has warned that his party will oppose any move to raise the salaries and allowances of the president, prime minister, ministers and MPs alongside the new pay scale for government employees.
Shafiqur said he had seen suggestions that the financial benefits of senior office-holders and lawmakers could also be increased as government employees receive higher salaries.
“I think that would be an inappropriate and unjust decision. As the opposition, we don't want it. I am saying this on behalf of Jamaat-e-Islami: we do not want it.”
He made the remarks during an exchange of views with journalists covering Jamaat at the Al Falah Auditorium in Dhaka’s Moghbazar on Wednesday.
‘We Did Not Go to Parliament to Earn Money’
Shafiqur said lawmakers should not seek higher salaries while people across the country were struggling financially.
“We did not go there [parliament] to earn money. We did not become members of parliament for a salary. We went there to serve the needs of the people,” he said.
“If the financial circumstances of 180 million people improve in the same way, we have no objection. Then we can share in it with everyone else — but not before.”
Shafiqur said Jamaat would resist any government initiative to increase the financial benefits of the president, prime minister, cabinet members and MPs.
“If the government takes any such initiative, we will certainly protest and resist it,” he said.
“I urge the government not to take any such initiative. The whole of society is struggling through a crisis, and we, as members of parliament, would increase our own benefits — that is out of the question.”
He urged the government to refrain from pursuing such a move.
“If it does, we will oppose it — unequivocally,” Shafiqur said.
