BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday said that people may begin to question the difference between Sheikh Hasina and the present administration if the current government takes too much time to arrange the national election.

“Some advisers are suggesting there is no need to rush for a fair election… Sheikh Hasina has already extended it for 15 years. If you add a few more years to that, people will start wondering what the difference is,” he said while addressing a doa mahfil.

Jatiyatabadi Muktijoddha Dal organised the programme on the ground floor of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office to pray for the speedy recovery of the ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Rizvi said that people have high expectations from this interim government. “We believe that whatever they do, it will certainly not be a repeat of Sheikh Hasina's fascism.”

He said some people claim that the BNP has become too busy to return to power. “We would like to say that a free and fair election should be held. If a credible election is held, it is hard to say who will come to power. This is not an issue for the BNP alone.”

The BNP leader observed that public trust in the interim government led by Dr Muhammad Yunus would increase if it takes steps to hold the national election as soon as possible.

He said the BNP has been fighting for the past 15 years to restore the people's ownership of the country and their right to elect a government.

Under the Awami League regime, Rizvi said, people were unable to elect their representatives, as Sheikh Hasina determined who would become an MP, Upazila chairman, or Union Parishad chairman.

He also said Sheikh Hasina created a terrible situation during her rule to hang onto power by repressing and suppressing her opponents. “We are now free from that atmosphere of fear and panic, and we can move freely.”

Rizvi urged the interim government to work together with those who have been carrying out a fight for democracy as various plots have been hatched by the neighbouring country. “They (India) will continue to play various chess moves one after the other, and if you do not understand these chess moves, then the country will suffer a lot.”

He said they are getting information from the commission formed to investigate the incidents of enforced disappearance that India was an accomplice in many such incidents.

Claiming that many victims of enforced disappearance are now being released from India, the BNP leader said there should be an inquiry into it to know whether these people were sent to India after being made to disappear.

“The neighbouring country India was the accomplice of Sheikh Hasina's enforced disappearance. The incident of our standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed is proof of that, as he was found in India two months after he was made to disappear in Bangladesh,” he said.

Rizvi said India’s relationship with Sheikh Hasina was so close that the neighbouring country itself has taken responsibility for her many misdeeds. The Indian authorities cannot deny their role in depriving Bangladesh of democracy and suppressing opposition parties by the Sheikh Hasina regime, he said.

The BNP leader slammed the interim government for the growing incidents of theft, snatching, and robbery across the country, including in Dhaka.

He observed that these petty crime incidents have increased sharply due to the lack of coordination in the administration.