Tougher movement unless Home, Energy ministers quit, NCP warns

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has threatened to intensify its street movement unless the Home and Energy ministers resign, accusing the government of failing to maintain law and order, control commodity prices and ensure uninterrupted gas and electricity supplies.

“If they do not resign, our protests will grow larger. We will march to surround Tarique Rahman to ensure our demands are met,” NCP Convener and Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam told a mass rally in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh in Dhaka on Friday.

Organised by the party’s Dhaka metropolitan north and south units, the rally was held to press four demands. NCP Member-Secretary and MP Akhtar Hossain delivered the keynote address.

Nahid said party activists had spent the past week visiting different neighbourhoods in Dhaka to hear public grievances over rising living costs, gas and electricity shortages and deteriorating law and order.

He also demanded the dissolution of the existing constitutional reform committee and the formation of a Constitutional Reform Council.

Accusing the BNP government of pursuing a new form of autocracy, Nahid alleged that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had no plan to govern the country beyond corruption, extortion and illegal land grabbing.

Referring to reports of a possible return of the ousted Awami League leadership in December, he questioned the government's ability to ensure public security. He also alleged that border killings, conspiracies involving the Hindu community and attempts to create unrest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were being used to destabilise the country.

In his keynote address, Akhtar questioned the BNP government's performance nine months after taking office, recalling its pre-election assurance that the country's problems would be resolved after the election.
“Has the situation in the country improved?” he asked, citing persistent insecurity and rising prices.

Comparing gas prices in Bangladesh and Kolkata, he questioned why consumers in Bangladesh were paying Tk2,500 against Tk1,000 in Kolkata, despite the regional impact of the conflict involving Iran. He also accused the government of failing to ensure accountability for the Awami League and demanded the resignation of the two ministers.

NCP Senior Joint Member-Secretary Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan alleged that eviction drives by Dhaka's city authorities had become a means of fresh extortion. He claimed street vendors were now being charged Tk2,000 to resume business after eviction, up from Tk500 previously.

Asserting that the NCP could be ready to take state power within five years, he urged party activists to strengthen its grassroots organisation.

Senior Joint Convener Nasiruddin Patwary accused the government of worsening the cost-of-living crisis, claiming that commodity prices in Bangladesh were 20 per cent higher than in neighbouring countries.

He alleged that LPG, officially priced at Tk1,837, was being sold for as much as Tk3,500, while households in several parts of Dhaka were struggling with gas shortages.

Patwary also called for a public-friendly transport system to replace auto-rickshaws in Dhaka and demanded more employment opportunities for young people.

With local government elections approaching, he invited aspiring upazila chairmen, councillors and mayors to join the NCP, saying the party had no place for extortionists.

He said the NCP remained committed to fulfilling its pledges, describing them as obligations arising from the sacrifices made during the July uprising.