Staff Reporter:
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General and Prime Minister’s Political Adviser Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi yesterday said state reforms, constitutional amendments, or new laws alone will never guarantee lasting democracy unless political leaders undergo a fundamental transformation in their mindset.
“You can amend the constitution based on the July Charter, enact new laws, and overhaul state struc-tures-but if the psychology and mindset of the political leadership do not change, everything can revert to authoritarianism,” Rizvi said.
He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion titled “Role of university teachers in the fall of the fascist government,” held at the Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University yesterday morn-ing.
The seminar was jointly organized by the Sada Dal of Dhaka University and the Association of Universi-ty Teachers of Bangladesh (UTAB) to mark two years of the July Mass Uprising 2024.
Illustrating his point about political hypocrisy, the BNP leader recalled how Sheikh Hasina had once launched fierce movements for the caretaker government system, only to unilaterally scrap it from the constitution later-overriding even the recommendations of her parliamentary committee members.
Rizvi also expressed deep concern over certain recent political occurrences, pointing to a photo exhibi-tion held at the residence of the Jamaat-e-Islami Amir.
He noted that while the exhibition displayed scenes from the 1971 Liberation War, the March 7 Speech and the July Uprising, it conspicuously omitted any photograph or mention of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, the proclaimer of the great independence, calling the omission “deeply significant and mysteri-ous.”
The BNP leader also strongly criticized India for allowing a fugitive fascist figure to address a program in New Delhi.
Rizvi questioned whether this ‘Hasina card’ was being played in response to the Prime Minister’s sover-eign foreign policy initiatives, including the Teesta Barrage Master Plan, visits to China, and the pro-posed China-Myanmar-Bangladesh corridor.
Rizvi praised the Prime Minister’s recent development and social welfare programmes, including the in-troduction of family cards and farmer cards, canal-digging drives, and prompt action against negligence in the health and education sectors.
He alleged that conspirators are attempting to create an artificial crisis and unrest to disrupt this smooth governance.
