Staff Reporter :
The main opposition party-BNP- on Thursday accused the Awami League government of inviting hazards for the country’s readymade garments industry sector only for retaining power.
“The government is inviting danger for the country’s garment industry with its move to retain power by holding a lopsided national election on January 7.
The people believe that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wants a guarantee to stay in power illegally by handing over the readymade garment business to other countries,” BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said while speaking at a virtual press briefing.
Rizvi also accused the Awami League government of repressing the BNP leaders and workers in police remand to leave the party.
The BNP leader said their party has repeatedly warned the government that a lopsided election will deepen the country’s political crisis and push the country towards danger.
“The government has already put Bangladesh’s RMG market under a threat. The upcoming one-sided election is not just a renewal of Sheikh Hasina’s power, but a license to destroy the country,” Rizvi said.
He said the government has taken the country’s biggest export-oriented RMG industry to the brink of destruction by ignoring the opinions of buyers.
“In the interest of a neighbouring country by taking a stand in favour of an exploitative policy of the pro-government opportunistic quarter and imprudently resorting to killing and repression to suppress justified demands of workers this AL government has taken such anti-country acts,” Rizvi said.
He said the garment factory owners fear that sanctions on Bangladesh’s garment industry are almost certain after the United States announced a new labour policy to protect labour rights.
He said the RMG sector has already lost 40 to 45 percent of the business.
“Amid the uncertainty of garment industry, strange Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen showed his stupidity by saying nothing will happen if there are any sanctions.”
Rizvi also criticized Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her comment that if the United States imposed sanctions, Bangladesh will also do the same against that country.
“Her government is inviting danger for the garment industry, the sole source of bread and butter for millions of poor people in the country,” Rizvi said.
“82 percent of the country’s total garment exports are going to the US and European countries. The RMG sector will be ruined if exports to these countries are hampered,” he said.
The BNP leader urged the people to make the ongoing movement strong.
He asked the countrymen not only to boycott the ‘stage-managed’ election but also to put up a stiff resistance to ensure a free, fair, credible and inclusive election under a caretaker government by ousting the current AL regime.
Rizvi claimed that the arrested BNP leaders and activists have been subjected to serious torture in the name of police remand.
“The torture on our arrested leaders and workers outshined the story of torture in the German concentration camps,” he said.
Rizvi said they came to know that the BNP leaders and workers were tortured in police remand in a disgraceful manner only to take their consent to change their party.
He claimed that over 415 BNP leaders and workers have been arrested across the country in the last 24 hours as of 5 pm on Thursday.
