BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said that the ruling party is unwilling to hold talks with the opposition as it cannot answer for the ‘fake’ votes cast in the general election.
He made the remarks at a press conference on Saturday in reaction to the Awami League’s refusal of Jatiya Oikyafront’s proposition to hold talks after the end of the 11th national parliamentary election.
The Jatiya Oikyafront urged the government to hold talks demanding a re-election over ‘vote rigging’ in the Dec 30 polls.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader rejected the demand, saying that the election had been ‘accepted’ across the globe and demands for a re-election were ridiculous.
"The Awami League leaders are still shamelessly ranting after a fake election of this magnitude. Can you call it an election when nearly half of the votes were cast the night before? Everyone now has enough evidence of this massive theft,” said Rizvi.
"Even in the face of strong threats, the national and the international media and the country's political parties have reported evidence of vote rigging. Nobody has accepted this election. That is why Obaidul Quader and company have rejected the talks as they do not have the answers. They do not have answers to this grand theft,” he continued.
“The Awami League has carried out ‘vote rigging’ using the administration and the police,” he added.
"It is the winning party’s activists who celebrate. But the Awami League did not win by votes and so their activists are not celebrating. The law enforcement agencies – Police, RAB and BGB were the ones celebrating,” he said.
Claiming that there is no democracy in Bangladesh, the BNP leader pointed to the latest report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to strengthen his case.
“After the publishing of this report, some ignorant intellectuals of the government have made irrelevant remarks. They said that Bangladesh has progressed democratically. But in reality, the democratic position of Bangladesh is at the bottom,” he said.
Rizvi complained of nationwide violence and attacks on BNP and opposition activists after the general election, reports bdnews24.
"Opposition parties and people holding opposing beliefs are being terrorised by the government. It seems the government wants to push the country towards civil war," he said.
