Long queues near TCB trucks exposes reality: BNP

BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Thursday said the long queues in front of TCB trucks are exposing the real condition of the country's people.

"You'll feel the real condition of people seeing the TCB trucks. Long queues are seen every day in front of those trucks," he told a human chain programme.

The BNP leader said even journalists are now lining up around TCB trucks, either wearing masks or covering their faces with mufflers or handkerchiefs. "This is the reality."

Nari O Shishu Odhikar Forum, a platform of BNP, arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club, demanding the withdrawal of "false" cases against its member secretary Nipun Roy.

Nazrul, a BNP standing committee member, said people are struggling to survive and going to the markets of poor people to buy goods at relatively cheaper prices as their real income has declined.

"One of our ministers has said when he looks at Dhaka from the sky, he feels like he's going to Los Angeles, and when he goes to a bathroom in the land, he feels like he's in Singapore. You please go around the TCB trucks and visit a market of the poor to realise how people are struggling in the country to survive. Stop making such a cruel joke," he said.

The BNP leader said more than 11,000 people have become new millionaires in Bangladesh amid the Covid pandemic. "On the other hand, 32.4 million people have become poorer in the country during this period."

He said the way the prices of essential items are going up but people cannot cope with it with their earnings.

"The prices of all essential items, including rice, pulses, oil, salt, pepper and onion are rising. That's why we've decided to take to the streets in protest against it," Nazrul said.

He called upon all the political parties and professional and other organisations to wage a united movement to protect the inserts of the poor and stop the growing price hike of key commodities.