Opposition is not cooperating on constitutional amendment, home minister says at July memorial inauguration
BNP Standing Committee member and Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said that implementing the July Charter requires both legal and constitutional processes, and for that the constitution will have to be amended. But he also alleged that the opposition party is not cooperating with the government in this matter.
He said: 'If July is not embraced, national expectations will not be fulfilled. Implementing the July Charter requires both legal and constitutional processes. In this case, the constitution will have to be amended.'
He made the remarks in his speech as special guest at the inauguration ceremony of the 'July Memorial' at Osmani Udyan in the capital on Monday (19 October) morning. At the same event, the prime minister inaugurated the memorial together with martyr families — making the stage the source of the day's most discussed political statements.
Noting that the opposition is not cooperating, the home minister added: 'Yet they could have seen it as constitutional reform as well. The leader of the opposition has said they will not cooperate with the government. But we want them to cooperate with 180 million people.'
His remarks make it clear that the government sees the opposition's non-cooperation as the biggest obstacle to giving the July Charter constitutional form. Without an amendment, implementation of the charter will remain incomplete — and it is on this argument that the government side keeps stressing the need for constitutional amendment.
The home minister said: 'Unveiling the July memorial plaque is our national inspiration. The July mass uprising did not happen in a day. For it, we had to wage a continuous movement from 2009 to 2024. So let it remain awakened in national life.'
He also said July must be reflected in drama and culture in the future. In other words, he called for keeping the spirit of July alive in national life not only through a memorial but also through culture.
Salahuddin Ahmed said: 'The government wants to implement the spirit of July. The prime minister is working with that plan. Because he directly led July. So the government will prove it through its work.'
Around the inauguration event, the prime minister too expressed anger over the opposition's absence — and the same note ran through the remarks of two top government leaders on the same day: on the question of July, the opposition is keeping itself at a distance.
According to political analysts, the question of implementing the July Charter and amending the constitution will remain the central debate in the country's politics in the coming days. Even as the government seeks cooperation, the opposition leader's stance of 'will not cooperate' has sharpened that debate further.
In the home minister's words, the opposition's cooperation is needed not for the government but for 180 million people. Through this remark, the government has sought to present the debate as a question of national expectation beyond party lines.
It remains to be seen how the government moves the constitutional amendment process forward and whether the opposition stays firm in its non-cooperation stance. The statements and counter-positions on the day of the July Memorial's inauguration themselves suggest that the path to implementing the charter will not be easy.
