People will brand BNP 'traitors' if July Charter is not implemented: Mojibur Rahman Manju at long march inauguration

AB Party chairman Mojibur Rahman Manju has said the people will brand the BNP as traitors if the July National Charter is not implemented.

He made the remarks on Saturday morning (31 October) at the inaugural rally of the 11-party alliance's Dhaka-Khulna-Jhenaidah-Kushtia long march, held at the south gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the capital.

Mojibur Rahman Manju said that if the BNP, while in power, fails to implement the verdict of the referendum or the July Charter, the people will mark them as traitors. And if for any reason they have to leave power, they will also have to bear the blame for the failure of the goal of establishing a democratic Bangladesh.

"We have perhaps reached a final phase of our long march — that is, the programme is ending. After this, our programme is towards Dhaka. We will hold a rally with everyone," he said. "The point we have tried to make again and again: BNP, you have come to power. If, while in power, you do not implement the referendum's verdict or the July Charter, the people will brand you as traitors."

"And if for some reason you have to leave power, and the goal we set in the July Charter — a democratic Bangladesh — fails, then write it down: if you leave power, you will again be the ones to suffer the most oppression," he added.

Opposition leader and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman MP was scheduled to address the rally as chief guest. Among those present were LDP chairman and former minister Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed Bir Bikram; Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis ameer Allama Mamunul Haque; Jamaat secretary general and former MP Mia Golam Parwar; Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party ameer Maulana Abdul Kaiyum Sobhani; Jatiya Ganotantrik Party vice-president Engineer Rashed Prodhan; Bangladesh Labour Party chairman Dr Mostafizur Rahman Iran; Bangladesh Development Party chairman Advocate Anwarul Islam Chan; Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan secretary general Mufti Fakhrul Islam; and Chhatra Shibir central president Nurul Islam Saddam, along with other top leaders of the 11-party alliance.

Addressing Sheikh Hasina, the AB Party chairman said: "I want to specially send a message to Sheikh Hasina. I want to tell Sheikh Hasina: do not wait until December, sister. If you can, come in November. The wound of July is still fresh in our minds. The sooner you return to the country, the sooner this wound can dry and be healed. Come — we are ready."

Accusing the BNP of stalling over the July Charter, Mojibur Rahman Manju said: "The BNP wants to trap us in the letter of the July Charter and make us stumble. We say 4 crore people voted in the referendum. I will request the national leaders, including the opposition leader: the next programme will be to build a platform of those 4 crore voters, Inshallah. We will show, one by one, how you have betrayed us."

Criticising the BNP's election pledges, he said the BNP had promised jobs for one crore people. "Has it happened? Has even one person got a job?" he asked, noting that the commerce minister had told parliament that more than four hundred factories had closed. "And the BNP will give jobs!"

Comparing the BNP with the Awami League, he said: "Why do we compare with the Awami League? We do it out of deep sorrow. Search on Google and see: after the Awami League came to power in 2009, 38 of its leaders died in internal feuds in the first year. And the BNP, mashallah, has crossed 45 in eight months. So tell me, what a match of character!"

He also questioned the BNP's organisational discipline. "We have seen that, so far, the BNP has had to expel 8,000 leaders and activists for indiscipline. In 15 years of Sheikh Hasina's rule, with all your strength and such a big party, we did not see a single person expelled. What current has come into you in these two months, these two years, that 8,000 of your people broke party discipline?"

On the programme after the long march, he said: "You ask what we will do next, what we will do when the long march ends. Remember what the BNP did. We remember all the programmes the BNP carried out. We are planning, Inshallah, to go into those programmes one by one as well."

Mojibur Rahman Manju added: "Our words are absolutely clear: we will not tolerate any betrayal of the blood of our brothers and sisters. We have pledged to every drop of blood. The July Charter was not written only with pens. The July Charter is written in the blood of every person of Bengal. If blood is needed again to realise this charter, we will win it with blood on the streets, Inshallah. The struggle is on, the struggle will continue."