No fascist can be compared with Hasina: Rizvi

BNP Standing Committee Member and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said that no fascist in the world can be compared with Sheikh Hasina in terms of authoritarian rule.

“Among fascists, no one in the world can be compared with Sheikh Hasina. She has no parallel even among other fascists,” Rizvi said.

At a programme titled “The spirit of July and the Bangladesh of tomorrow” held at the Senate Hall of the National University in Gazipur, he made the remarks on Sunday (August 16). The university organised the event to mark the second anniversary of the July Uprising.

Rizvi said students led the July Uprising, while people from different sections of society, from primary school students to university students, joined the protests. Workers, rickshaw pullers, hotel employees, journalists and others were among those killed during the movement, he said.

“Ultimately, people from all walks of life took to the streets under the leadership of students against the terrible misrule,” he said, adding that the people of Bangladesh possess an “indomitable strength” to resist oppression and bad governance.

Referring to the British colonial period, Rizvi said Bengal was once a highly prosperous region, which attracted the attention of the British. The East India Company, he said, expanded its control over the region under the guise of trade.

He also referred to Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, saying that despite subsequent changes brought about by conspiracies, Siraj-ud-Daulah defeated the British twice and recaptured Calcutta.

Rizvi said the people of Bangladesh had never accepted those who, in order to remain in power, compromised the country’s sovereignty. He said BNP and its nationalist leader Begum Khaleda Zia had continued that tradition of resistance.

Praising Khaleda Zia’s leadership, Rizvi said she had worked for years with a commitment to democracy and independence and had united the nation through courageous leadership.