Photo : Messenger
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) simultaneously with allied parties held a grand rally in Dhaka on October 28 as part of a ‘final’ movement to unseat the government ahead of the 12th National Parliamentary elections, for which the major opposition has reportedly been found to have given money to 63 anti-government political parties in frantic bid to make the movement a grand success.
According to some leaders of the BNP’s like-minded parties, over one crore taka was distributed apiece among some of the big parties. Furthermore, smaller parties received amounts ranging from Tk 200,000 to Tk 1,000,000 in multiple installments.
Moreover, there was a special allocation for those who were injured, killed, tortured, and went to jail during the movement. However, the victims alleged that most of those responsible for distributing this money embezzled it. Many of those in the field and affected were deprived of cooperation.
During the movement, when a large part of the top leaders of the party went into hiding and another part was in jail, only field-level leaders could not sleep at home, staying on the streets. Now, slowly, as the top leaders are being freed and hidden leaders are emerging, the issue of money allocation is coming to the forefront.
Before the elections, the 20-party alliance was dissolved, and 12 parties formed a nationalist like-minded alliance. A coalition leader had a phone conversation with Fariduzzaman Farhad, NPP chairman and coordinator of this alliance, regarding money sharing. For October 28 alone, each party of the alliance was allotted Tk 50,000. An exclusive record of this has come into the hands of The Daily Messenger.
A vice chairman, two members of the executive committee, and the party's media wing said that the BNP has not been in power for a long time, so the alliance leaders could not afford to pay large sums of money. However, before the election, support from the special fund was allocated to those who were involved in the movement at the field level.
It is known that more than Tk 30 crore was allotted for the programme on October 28 alone. Some of this money has been given to alliance leaders. However, the party is keeping secret who was responsible for distributing the money. Senior leaders said that those who did not fulfill their duties due to weak leadership are being held accountable, as the movement failed to yield results even with their non-cooperation.
Expressing anger, a top BNP leader of Dhaka Metropolitan south, told The Daily Messenger that if the allocated money had been properly distributed, the impact of the movement would have been positive. This leader commented that besides the weaknesses of the top leaders, those who committed fraud in the distribution of money are also responsible for the failure of the movement.
A vice-chairman of the party told The Daily Messenger, “As far as I have investigated, even though allocations have been made for those affected by the movement at the field level, many have not received the assistance. This has hindered the implementation of the movement. One crore taka was also allotted for the big parties.”
When asked who the big parties are, he said, “There are some others, including Gonotontro Mancha and Gana Adhikar Parishad. Besides, the smaller parties have been given Tk 50,000 in steps. The amount ranges from Tk 2 lakh to 10 lakh. Many are complaining that they have not received the money.” This policymaker of BNP also said that those who have neglected the distribution of responsibilities will be held accountable before the movement in the future.
However, the key leaders of the party in charge of coordination of the movement said that they are on the way to turning things around after learning from the experience of the failure of the movement before the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections. In the movements, various limitations and deficiencies have been identified within and outside the party, and initiatives have been taken to remove them.
According to the party, despite the failure of the movement in 15 consecutive years, they are not giving up. The United Nations, European Union, and many Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have continued to say that there was no free and fair election in Bangladesh. They fear that the 'economic crisis' will intensify in the country. After reviewing the overall situation at home and abroad, a large-scale movement will be organised on the streets. The deficiencies that were in the movement at the field level will be eliminated in the future.
The issue of money sharing came up in the phone conversation between the coordinator of the like-minded alliance and NPP chairman Dr. Fariduzzaman Farhad and Janatar Adhikar Party (PRP) Chairman Tariqul Islam Bhuiyan, who was released from prison.
When asked about this, the coordinator of the alliance and NPP chairman, Dr. Fariduzzaman Farhad, told The Daily Messenger, “These (the audio of the conversation) are published by government agencies. The money-sharing issues are not true.” He hung up the phone, saying, “I am busy with urgent work now. I will talk about it later.”
On the other hand, alliance coordinator and BNP’s standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan hung up, saying that he would not comment on the money-sharing issue.
Messenger/Fameema
