Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday firmly told parliament that only Awami League can give free and neutral elections in this country and it will continue protecting the voting rights of the people.
“Only Awami League can give free and neutral elections in this country. I can undoubtedly say it,” she said, referring to recent city corporation elections and parliamentary by-polls held under her government.
The premier said this while delivering her valedictory speech at the 23rd session (2023-24 Budget Session) of the 11th parliament.
“Our goal is to protect voting rights of the people and attain economic emancipation of the people. We’ve been doing the work and will continue doing it ,” she said.
The Leader of the House said none could raise a single question regarding the recent city elections in Barishal, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Gazipur.
“Has any election ever been held in such a peaceful manner in Bangladesh in the past?” she asked.
About the parliamentary by-polls, she said every by-election was held in fair, free and neutral manners.
Earlier, the prime minister raised how elections were rigged in the past during the regimes of Ziaur Rahman, HM Ershad and Khaleda Zia.
She said Ziaur Rahman spoiled the electoral system of the country by grabbing power illegally. Then HM Ershad followed him and Khaleda Zia followed Ershad, she said.
Sheikh Hasina, also the AL president, said her party always struggled for returning the voting rights of the people to their hands.
She said she handed over the power in the most peaceful way in 2001 for the first time in the history of Bangladesh.
Depicting the misrules, violence and tortures unleashed by BNP regimes, she said their tortures can be compared only to the repressions carried out by Pakistan occupation forces in 1971.
Noting that none could raise any question over the 2008 general election, she said BNP secured only 29 seats (out of 300) in that election, which reflected the condition of BNP clearly.
The PM said AL and BNP can’t be equal as AL was founded in 1949 from the movement for establishing rights of people, whereas BNP was formed in an illegal way from cantonment grabbing the state power.
“So, their (BNP’s) ideology and principle don’t match with those of AL,” said Sheikh Hasina.
She said her government protected the voting rights of the people and continued the democratic process in Bangladesh during the 2009-2023 period.
“Since AL has been in power, the democratic trend continues, the purchasing power of the people has increased, and the country has gained the status of a developing country today,” she said.
Pointing at those who question the human rights situation of Bangladesh, she said they should protect the human rights of the people of their own countries first.
She questioned why those who say there are no human rights in Bangladesh
