"The prime minister will not tolerate hypocrisy inside the party": Law minister's warning to BNP activists in Shailkupa

In the coming union parishad elections, everyone will have to work for whoever the party nominates — and anyone who stands in the way will be dropped from the party, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman has warned. He also said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would not forgive those who practise hypocrisy from inside the party.

He made the remarks on Tuesday morning (20 October) as chief guest at an exchange-of-views meeting with leaders and activists at the BNP party office in Shailkupa upazila of Jhenaidah. Leaders and activists of the upazila BNP at various levels were present at the meeting.

The law minister said the prime minister would give a formula — how the work must be done. Nominations and campaigning would proceed according to that formula, leaving no room to step outside the party's decision for a personally preferred candidate.

He also made the party's position on candidate selection clear. In his words, a report on every union will be held in the prime minister's computer system. The party therefore wants a "winning candidate" — nominations will go to those with a real prospect of victory.

Drawing on his own position, he said, "If my party does not win, what use is a big leader like me? If the BNP had not come to power today, then no matter how big a leader I am, no matter how good a person I am, it would not have mattered at all."

He added that union parishad elections need candidates who will actually win. "You give your preferred candidate, but if he does not win, that will not do" — that was his direct message to the leaders and activists.

The law minister also described the party as the biggest trust in his keeping. "The party is the greatest trust to me. But if I see you betraying the party, rising above the party to do something alternative, then I too have the right to hold you to account," he said.

He also raised the issue of local-level wrongdoing at the meeting, saying, "We said extortion, land-grabbing and tender manipulation must stop. These do not exist in Shailkupa." He claimed the path begun in Shailkupa was now being followed across Bangladesh.

"Now our path is being followed all over Bangladesh. Think about it — what you started here, the whole of Bangladesh is now following," he said, acknowledging the contribution of local leaders and activists in this way.

With union parishad elections ahead, those present saw the main thrust of the speech as keeping party discipline at the grassroots. Even where quiet discontent over nominations exists, the pressure to accept the party's decision came through clearly from the meeting.

The grassroots picture will become clearer once candidates are finalised on the basis of the prime minister's announced formula and the union-by-union reports. For now, the message from the Shailkupa meeting is a single one — no one who steps outside the party's decision will be spared.