Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said ‘seasoned communists’ barring a small part of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) are with her in an obvious jab at her one-time ally. She made the observation at a press meet at the Ganabhaban on Monday, a day after the 10th general election, which the Left party boycotted.The voting took place on Sunday amid the Opposition’s boycott and efforts to foil it. Some Left-wing parties including the BaSaD and CPB stayed away, too. “Those who believe in democracy and the spirit of the Liberation War have taken part, while those who do not have boycotted the polls,” Hasina said.
Like the Awami League, the CPB too had played a role in achieving the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. To a journalist’s query whether the CPB was an anti-liberation war force, Hasina was diplomatic.
“The good and the seasoned sections of the Communist Party are with me; those who are not, have moved away.” She said those in the Communist Party now “are growing smaller and smaller”.
Matia Chowdhury and Nurul Islam Nahid, once leaders of the CPB, got a place in Hasina’s cabinet. Another former CPB leader, Nuh-Ul Alam Lenin, is now a Presidium member of the ruling Awami League.
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam had expressed his displeasure with the CPB on Oct 30, when the party refused to ally with the Awami League before the polls.
Looking at Lenin sitting beside him at the press conference, he said, “The main CPB leaders are now around us.”
“The CPB had taken part in the military dictator’s election. They had also encouraged all to be part of it. What is wrong with this election?”
The Awami League-led eight parties had taken part in the 1986 polls during Hussein Muhammad Ershad’s military regime, but Parliament dissolved three years before its term ended.
The CPB had held meetings with both Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia in the run-up to Sunday’s general election, urging the two leading parties to reach an agreement.
They had advised the Prime Minister to ensure the participation of all political parties in the election and had urged Khaleda to part ways with the Jamaat-e-Islami. – bdnews24.com
