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Published : 10 May 2017, 05:15 PM
Vision 2030: Plan for a Rainbow Nation
Food minister says BNP’s Vision 2030 is a bluff
Khaleda trying to imitate Hasina in her Vision 2030: Tofail
In a media briefing at the Westin Dhaka hotel, she said the prime minister's sole executive power has resulted in a ‘dictatorship’.
“The BNP is of the opinion that the people of Bangladesh have been dispossessed of the ownership of the state that they had created through the great liberation war.
The BNP wants to hand over the lost ownership back to people.”
The 11th amendment that gave a big boost to the prime minister's powers was drafted and passed in 1991 when Khaleda was heading the government.
The three-time prime minister said her party does not believe in a ‘one-day democracy.’
BNP does not want people’s power to be limited to just voting in election. Her party strives to give people authority to express public opinion, she said.
Khaleda emphasised the need for honesty and integrity in running administration and said the BNP takes those values seriously.
“In order to arrest the spread of corruption like a filthy wound, the rule of law, accountability and transparency shall be thoroughly implemented with procedural and legal reforms.”
“The office and position of the Ombudsman shall be created as per the constitution to ensure administrative accountability and transparency.”
“Bangladesh is now an unsecured and risky land. Even a child in the mother’s womb is not free from the claw of cruel crimes.”
“People seeking justice from the court are being denied justice.”
“Courts are used to suppress the members of the opposition parties. A culture of impunity has engulfed the nation.”
Khaleda Zia before the press conference. Her Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas is beside her. Photo: ZE Mamun
Khaleda made the points of the plan under around 40 sectors ranging from democracy, nation building, defence, foreign policy, economy to tourism, sports and ICT.
Dozens of party activists tried to force their way into the ballroom as Khaleda arrived 25 minutes later than scheduled.
An election manifesto?
Khaleda’s Vision 2030 sounded more like an election manifesto in the run-up to the national polls due in early 2019.
Presenting her agenda, Khaleda said it would be ‘difficult to achieve, but not impossible’.
“We liberated the country through war. It is our sacred duty to make the country developed and dignified,” she said.
She urged the people and development partners to support her vision.
It took her nearly two hours to finish her speech.
Khaleda later told bdnews24.com that she was ‘quite happy’ to do the two-hour job and believed people had listened to her presentation live on television.
She did not take questions at the presser.
Breaking with the tradition of government bashing, Khaleda stuck mostly to the points of her plan.
Diplomats from France, the UK, Germany, Turkey, India, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Denmark, Pakistan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Australia, China, Indonesia, and the European Union, and representative of UNDP were present at the briefing, BNP leaders said.
No leaders from any party outside the BNP-led 20-party alliance were present.
Leaders of the BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami were also absent.
# Implementation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations
# A new law to set competence standards for appointment of judges through a select committee and supreme judicial council.
# A separate secretariat under the Supreme Court for controlling lower courts to be freed from the influence of the executives.
The police will be turned into a force that revers the public through motivation, training and moral uprightness in an effort to create an accountable and welfare-oriented public administration.
The police will be turned into a skilled force in keeping with the fast-changing world and technological advancements.
Law-enforcement agencies will be freed from partisan influence, she said.
The BNP aims to transform Bangladesh into a high-middle-income country by 2030.
Per capita income should be upgraded to $5,000, she said.
In order to achieve this goal, the BNP will make ‘creative and intelligent’ efforts to boost annual growth to a double-digit figure.
The BNP plans to go for economic use of limited land resources to set up industries and will also adopt a development strategy of least-land-intensive modern service industries such as banking, insurance and financial service, hotel-restaurant, and IT industry.
Khaleda said the power and supervisory role of the central bank would be upgraded to ensure discipline in the financial sector of the country.
“In the backdrop of share market and bank plundering, capable, honest and efficient persons shall be appointed in the Security and Exchange Commission and in the board of directors of nationalised banks to stop further corruption in these sectors,” Khaleda said.
Political interference in the functioning of the financial institutions must be ended, according to her Vision 2030.
The banking division in the finance ministry will be abolished once her party comes to power, Khaleda said.
The central bank will be tasked with monitoring state banks, she said.
Khaleda said safe and secure use of nuclear power would be ensured in energy generation.
She said “the issue” of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant will be “re-examined”.
Speaking about the ICT sector, she said a ‘smart school’ would be established in every district so that these schools serve the purpose of model technology demonstrator.
In her party’s Vision 2030, Khaleda pledged to scrap the controversial Section 57 of the ICT Act, which is being criticised for allowing arrests and punishment for offensive posts on the internet.
“BNP always welcomes objective criticism. It is the duty of the state to ensure the professional freedom of the journalists and provide security to the constructive and objective critics. BNP will continuously try to fulfil this responsibility.”
The BNP chief, however, added that it was necessary to formulate a ‘set of principles consistent with free thinking and democratic spirit of print, electronic, and online media’.
She said the BNP would constitute a commission led by a former justice of the Supreme Court, and renowned educationist, renowned citizen, IT specialist, and experienced journalist as members for making a policy for print, electronic, and online media.
The policy would be “acceptable to all quarters”, Khaleda said.
She also said the trial of the killers of journalists, including couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, would be ensured.
“BNP shall withdraw all politically-motivated false cases filed against the journalists.”
