A sharp divide between the ruling party and opposition was on full display in parliament on Wednesday as lawmakers debated the motion of thanks on the President's address, with government members expressing gratitude while opposition legislators questioned why a President who remained silent during years of alleged repression deserved any appreciation.
Sixteen members from both sides of the aisle participated in the discussion during the session presided over by Deputy Speaker Kaisar Kamal on the eleventh day of the thirteenth parliament's first sitting.
Chattogram-16 MP Zahirul Islam of Jamaat-e-Islami said a head of state must possess strong moral conviction and principled consistency. "I have not seen that in his political life. He led on behalf of fascists for a while, then coexisted with the interim government. I am sorry that I cannot thank him due to his shifting allegiances," the opposition lawmaker said.
Nilphamari-2 MP Al Faruk Abdul Latif, also from Jamaat, was more direct in his criticism. "A President who accepted all the injustices of fascist rule including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings and kept his mouth shut on every wrong despite being the head of state does not deserve to be thanked," he declared.
Narayanganj-4 MP Abdullah Al Amin of the National Citizens Party expressed concern that the government was showing reluctance on reforms that had been agreed upon collectively after the mass uprising.
"We were supposed to build a beautiful Bangladesh together after the revolution. But I am alarmed to see a kind of unwillingness from the ruling party on reform issues where we had reached consensus," he said, adding that the Bangladesh Cricket Board was being not merely politicized but turned into a family affair, while party loyalists and businessmen were being appointed to universities and Bangladesh Bank.
On the ruling party side, Dhaka-18 MP SM Jahangir Hossain offered a robust defense of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, tracing his political journey from exile to leadership.
"After Khaleda Zia was evicted from her Cantonment residence in 2010, oppression against the people of Bangladesh began. Our leader had to go to London to resist that oppression. From there, he united the people and fought for 17 years. Fascism fell on August 5. When he returned on December 25, the people understood something new was about to happen. He said 'I have a plan,' and we are now seeing that plan unfold," the ruling party member said.
Jahangir also raised local development concerns, noting that 12 wards incorporated into the city corporation in 2017 under his constituency had seen no development and proposed connecting Abdullahpur embankment to a 300-foot road to ease traffic congestion in the area.
Netrokona-2 MP Anwarul Islam criticized the opposition for what he called their disrespect toward the national anthem during the opening day of the parliamentary session, saying their walkout during the President's address after taking oath before the same President exposed their hypocrisy.
Several other lawmakers from both sides used the debate to draw the Prime Minister's attention through the Speaker to infrastructure deficiencies, educational institutional development needs, and public suffering in their respective constituencies. Among those participating were members from Sirajganj, Habiganj, Shariatpur, Kishoreganj, Cumilla, Jamalpur, Brahmanbaria, Gazipur, and Sherpur.
