Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed has alleged that India wants Awami League (AL) and its cohorts in power to dominate Bangladesh.

"In the recent past, whatever Bangladesh said, India echoed the same thing that it wants AL and its cohorts in power so that it can dominate Bangladesh. India does not need the support and friendship of Bangladesh and its people," he told journalists on Sunday after paying tributes to BNP founder Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman by placing wreaths at his grave at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar here. 

Flanked by many BNP leaders-activists including BNP Chairperson’s Adviser M A Maleque, he also offered fateha there seeking eternal peace of the departed soul of Ziaur Rahman.

He said India made tyrant and democracy-killer Sheikh Hasina as their guest in Delhi.

India showed its hatred towards the people of Bangladesh when it was seen that teenager Swarna Das, hailed from Moulvibazar, and Felani Khatun were shot dead by Border Security Force (BSF).

But, on the other hand, so many leaders of AL easily crossed Bangladesh's border and reached India, he said, adding that AL leaders were seen shopping in Indian markets and someone is visiting the Mazar of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in India.

Thus, it has been proven that India's policymakers do not like the people of Bangladesh rather they like AL and its leaders, he added.

People like AL leaders and AL-backed police, including Shamim Osman and additional inspector general of the Bangladesh Police Monirul Islam are visiting many places in India so easily that creates an impression that these people may not need passports and Indian visa, he added.

But, when it comes to normal citizens of Bangladesh, they (Bangladeshis) need visas, passport and also they need to maintain many procedures, Rizvi added.

He said the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forcibly disappeared one of the BNP standing committee members for two months and then he was found in India.
India did not spare him instead he faced cases and later, was sent to jail there, he said.

Criticizing India’s partiality, he said that India played a one-sided policy with Bangladeshi people except for AL and its cohorts. 

About Durga Puja, he said it was heard that the neighbouring country thought Durga Puja would not be celebrated peacefully in Bangladesh.

He said in various ways, the media and policymakers of the neighboring country wanted to tarnish the image of Bangladesh raising questions about the harmony among the people of the country (Bangladesh).

However, the Bijaya Dashami of Durga Puja was celebrated peacefully because communal harmony always prevails in this country, he added.

Besides, BNP, its allied organizations and other parties sincerely tried to maintain stability during the Durga Puja festival such as they guarded mandirs and puja mandaps round the clock, he said.

Whereas, during the regime of AL, the agents of killer Hasina attacked brutally mandirs and puja mandaps but shifted blame to BNP and other organizations, he said.

Mentioning that BNP Chairperson's Adviser and the United Kingdom (UK) unit BNP leader M A Maleque recently came back to the country, Rizvi said Maleque could not return to Bangladesh for 17 years because he always protested the misrule of Hasina, who is a symbol of fascism, cruelty and misrule when she went to visit European countries.

Staying abroad, Maleque came to the streets, waged a movement and criticized Hasina's oppression towards her people by taking away their democratic rights, he said.

Due to dedicated leaders of BNP like Maleque, the oppression, misrule and torture of Hasina, who became Prime Minister without people's mandate, were highlighted before the international arena, he added.