BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Thursday has called for a ‘boycott of Indian products’ in protest against the desecration of the national flag of Bangladesh and the attack on the Assistant High Commission in Agartala.
“Those who tear down our country’s flag… we will boycott their (Indi’s) products,” he said while addressing a function in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
The event was held under the banner of ‘Buy local products and be blessed’ to encourage the boycott of Indian products and the use of Bangladeshi products.
Rizvi said Bangladeshi mothers and sisters should no longer buy Indian sarees, soaps, toothpaste or anything from India.
Noting that Bangladesh is self-sufficient in onion production as well, he said, “So we will not be dependent on them (India)… we will boycott Indian products.”
Indian Saree Set on Fire
At the function, Rizvi threw an Indian saree of his wife, which was set on fire amid anti-Indian slogans.
“We will wear the sarees of Tangail, the silk sarees of Rajshahi, or the khaddar of Comilla,” he said.
The BNP leader, however, asked the people not to desecrate the Indian flag and belittle its dignity, though they set the flag of Bangladesh on fire and tried to humiliate Bangladesh.
“We will not insult the Indian flag… we will not belittle the dignity of another independent country… we will not disrespect the independence and sovereignty of any nation,” he said.
Mentioning that Indians are carrying out propaganda against Bangladesh, Rizvi said the people of Bangladesh can’t bow down their heads. “If needed, we’ll eat one meal a day… even then we won’t bow down our heads,” he added.
Referring to the recent remarks of Indian journalists and physicians regarding the Bangladeshi patients who go to India on medical visas, the BNP senior joint secretary general said Bangladeshi people don’t get free medical treatment in India.
“The people from Bangladesh go there spending dollars. Now the New Market in Kolkata is closed, the shops are closed, no more buyers are there,” he said, adding that the Bangladeshis always go there to purchase products and services with dollars.
India’s Hasina Affection
Rizvi said, “They (India) like cruel Hasina, not the people of Bangladesh. They don’t want Bangladesh to survive.”
He said today India is pushing various types of instigation among the people of Bangladesh and inside Bangladesh. But the people of Bangladesh will not step in any provocation.
The unity of political parties here in Bangladesh is so strong that no one would be able to break it, he added.
BNP joint secretary general Abdul Salam Azad and volunteer affairs secretary Mir Sharafat Ali Sapu and health affairs secretary Rafiqul Islam, among others, spoke on the occasion.
