Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman Tuesday said the identity of every citizen is same wherever he or she lives in the country as all are Bangladeshis.
"No matter where our address is on the map of Bangladesh, our identity is common, we are all Bangladeshis," he told a virtual view-exchange meeting with grassroots leaders and workers of Chattogram and Barishal divisions.
The meeting was arranged as part of the ongoing view-exchange meetings with grassroots leaders and workers of the party, BNP's media cell told BSS.
"Some of us go to mosques, some to temples or pagodas or churches. In the same way, Eid-ul-Fitr is festival of some people, Durga Puja or Christmas or Buddha Purnima or Baishabi is of some. But this is not our common identity," Tarique Rahman said.
He said: "On the map of Bangladesh, your address can be in hills or plains, some live in haor areas and some in small island, or in the coastal floodplain or next to the Sundarbans - in all cases we have the common identity, we are all Bangladeshis."
Even those who try to question this identity had to use this "Bangladeshi" identity in the passport while fleeing to avoid public outrage.
"We will have to use this identity impartially while evaluating your qualifications; similarly we will have the same criteria in the case of our crimes," he said.
