Cooperative sector was brought to the brink of destruction during fascist rule: Abdus Salam

The cooperative sector of the country was brought to the brink of destruction during the past fascist government, said Md. Abdus Salam, administrator of Dhaka South City Corporation and a freedom fighter. He made the remarks at a programme held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Sunday (8 November), marking the 55th National Cooperative Day 2026.

He said money was taken out of the cooperative sector, leaving it even more impoverished. Various black laws were enacted to obstruct the growth of the sector, and as a result cooperators are being oppressed today. He said the cooperative law needs to be made fit for the times, and the government needs to pay special attention to developing the sector.

Abdus Salam said that for more than a century, the cooperative movement in Bangladesh has made important contributions to the rural economy, employment, small entrepreneurs and women’s empowerment. A cooperative is a process of putting people’s strength into people’s hands, which builds a foundation of peace and unity, he said.

Speaking about the progress of the cooperative movement in Bangladesh, he said that in the past five decades the sector did not develop as much as it should have, in his view — even though a country like ours had every opportunity for the cooperative movement to succeed on a large scale.

He said he personally believes the current democratic government will pay due attention to using the inherent strength of the cooperative movement to make a notable contribution to the country’s socio-economic development. The cooperative sector is a well-established institutional sector, he said, with nearly one and a half lakh cooperative societies and one crore 25 lakh people directly involved.

Abdus Salam said he believes it is extremely necessary to use this large and organised population in the government’s development efforts.

Highlighting the activities of the National Cooperative Union, Abdus Salam said the union is fully prepared to lead the country’s cooperative movement. The work of the current committee continues to make the union’s activities dynamic. Membership of the cooperative union has increased significantly over the past two years.

He said efforts are under way to increase the union’s membership from every region of the country. Steps have been taken to digitise the union’s activities, and a webpage of the cooperative union has been launched. The webpage gives an idea of all the union’s activities, and any cooperative society in the country can now become a member of the union from home through this webpage.

Criticising the previous government, Abdus Salam said the cooperative sector was taken to the very edge of destruction during the fascist era. They passed certain special laws because of which cooperators are oppressed today. The cooperative sector is the second sector of Bangladesh’s economy, he said, but it was not given the help it needed during the previous government. Instead, all the money was taken from it, leaving the sector even more destitute.

He said he hopes the President will certainly give directives on the black laws that exist to prevent the cooperative sector from developing further.

He added that he believes that since the honourable Prime Minister Tarique Rahman — the worthy son of our leader, martyred President Ziaur Rahman, and the worthy son of Begum Khaleda Zia — also wants to change the government, he certainly believes that if these steps are taken, the cooperative department will move towards further improvement.