If AL opens door, BNP leaders will line up to join AL: Quader

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Saturday said if his party opens door, BNP leaders would be seen in a large queue to join the ruling party.

“Many central and district level leaders of BNP come to join Awami League. If we open up door, it will be seen how long the queue of joining is,” he said.

Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, was addressing a discussion marking the National Mourning Day arranged by Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) at its auditorium, reports Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

Pointing to BNP leaders, he said: “When the election appears, you will get the proof of Awami League’s popularity.”

He said BNP leaders and activists have no trust in its top leadership.

The minister said they have friends abroad but not lords rather the BNP has foreign masters.

The AL didn’t come to power at the mercy of anyone rather it got people’s absolute mandate to form the government, he mentioned.

BNP leaders talk about AL’s popularity but people don’t respond to their talks or calls, he said.

Noting that consequence of history is very cruel, Quader said military dictator Ziaur Rahman also didn’t die a natural death Begum Zia also became widow with the same bullet that had made Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana orphans, he said, adding that Khandokar Mustaq, who grabbed the state power through the August 15 carnage, even couldn’t stay in power for three months.

“What was the role of Ziaur Rahman? If he didn’t give courage from behind the scene, killers couldn’t dare to do so (the massacre),” he said.

After the Bangabandhu assassination, he (Zia) became army chief and subsequently he made himself president, rewarded assassins of Bangabandhu by recruiting them in Bangladesh missions abroad, Quader said.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) former vice-chancellors Dr Kanak Kanti Barua and Dr Kamrul Hasan Khan, incumbent VC Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed, AL Health Affairs Secretary Dr Rokeya Sultana and BMA Secretary General Dr Shafiqur Rahman addressed it, among others.