Cutting electricity prices adds to BNP's 10-point demand

Cutting electricity prices to an affordable level has added to the 10-point demand of the BNP as the government on Thursday yet again increased the price by 5% in retail.

Other key demands of the party include the resignation of the Awami League-led government, the reintroduction of a non-partisan caretaker government system and the dissolution of the parliament.

The main opposition BNP expects a vigorous but non-violent simultaneous movement today with rallies in metropolitan cities and upazilas across the country.

"The government has taken an anti-people decision by increasing the price of electricity further. The power price hike will badly hit people already burdened with commodity price hikes," BNP Standing Committee Member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said in a press conference yesterday.

"Only some corrupt officials will benefit from the move," he, also a former state minister for electricity, added and noted that during BNP's tenure people got more amounts of electricity than they paid for.

For example, people got electricity worth Tk110 against their payment of Tk100 at that time. "But they now get electricity worth Tk70 only against a Tk100 recharge. In the name of prepaid metres and quick rentals, money is being taken from people's pockets."

To get rid of this suffering, the BNP leader urges people from all walks of life to join their movement today.

"We have completed all preparations. Leaders from different levels are aware of any untoward situation," Syed Emran Saleh Prince, acting office secretary of the BNP, told The Business Standard. "We do not want conflict, but we will protect ourselves if Awami League attacks us," he added.

Several BNP leaders also told TBS that their activists have gained more confidence after the 24 and 30 December simultaneous mass rallies, in which most opposition parties took part. They also believe that their anti-government movement advances in the right direction, mounting pressure on the government.

Although a vested quarter is trying to foil the simultaneous movement by creating violence-anarchy, central leaders have repeatedly asked activists to continue the movement peacefully, they added.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday reiterated his firm belief that the government will be overthrown through a peaceful movement, no matter how repressive its tactics.

"We're passing a bad time as a barbaric and monstrous force is destroying all our achievements... around 40 lakh of our people have been implicated in false cases and several thousand have been sent to jail," he said.

"We'll defeat this terrible monster (the government) through a peaceful movement, defying any sort of repression and suppression. We'll establish a truly democratic state here. We'll surely win the struggle we're carrying out," Fakrul said.

He claimed that 15 BNP leaders and activists have so far been killed in the current movement since 22 August last year, in police firing or the torture of Awami League 'cadres'.

Some 33 political parties and different professional bodies, including the Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad and the Youth Forum, are also making all-out preparations to take to the streets on Monday. Among them, the seven-party alliance Ganatantra Mancha, the nationalist like-minded twelve-party alliance, the twelve-party alliance and the left democratic alliance will arrange their sit-in protest in front of the National Press Club in the capital.

"We are fully prepared for Monday's procession. We have been directed by central leaders for non-violent procession protests at any cost but we are slightly concerned about law enforcement and the ruling party's attacking attitude," Cumilla Metropolitan Acting BNP Convener Shawkat Ali Bakul said.

Meanwhile, Awami League leaders said they will also take to the streets to keep an eye on the opposition movement and prevent BNP-Jamaat from any anarchic situation.

Party insiders said the Dhaka North unit of the Awami League will organise a peace rally at Nutun Bazar of Batara in the capital, while the Dhaka South unit will hold a day-long sit-in programme on 23 Bangabandhu Avenue. Obaidul Quader and other senior party leaders are expected to attend both programmes.

Besides, the Chhatra league will hold a rally at Shabagh as part of its "Smart Bangladesh" programme, and the Dhaka metropolitan unit of Jubo League will hold protest rallies at the Sahid Minar and Farmgate in the capital.