Oust-Govt Movement: Non-cooperation call after 27 years
The BNP and its allies have announced a non-cooperation movement to press home their demand for a neutral polls-time government, in echoes of the one launched by the then opposition Awami League and its allies in 1996.
"From this moment, we are urging government employees of all tiers and also the patriotic people not to cooperate with this illegal regime," said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the BNP, while announcing the party's non-cooperation movement in a virtual press briefing yesterday.
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The outcome that the BNP and its allies are hoping for is what the AL had achieved 27 years ago.
On February 15, 1996, a general election was held that was boycotted by all major opposition parties.
The then opposition led by the Awami League was demanding the installation of a neutral caretaker government to oversee the election, citing a 1994 by-election that was marred by extensive irregularities as evidence of the BNP's inability to hold a free and fair election.
Despite the boycott, the February election went ahead and the then prime minister Khaleda Zia's BNP was re-elected for the second term in a landslide victory.
A series of hartals were called by the other parties and an indefinite non-cooperation movement was called until demands for a new, free election under a caretaker government were met.
On March 23, 1996, the Janatar Mancha was set up in front of the Jatiya Press Club. Led by Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, who was a member of the Planning Commission then, a section of government officials and employees of the secretariat violated public service rules and joined the AL's Janatar Mancha to dislodge the BNP government.
Given the escalating political turmoil, two days after the Janatar Mancha was formed, the sitting parliament enacted the thirteenth constitutional amendment to allow a neutral caretaker government to assume power and conduct a fresh parliamentary election.
To mobilise support for the non-cooperation movement, the BNP and its allies including Jamaat-e-Islami have called for a three-day countrywide mass contact programme from today and a dawn-to-dusk nationwide blockade on December 24.
"In the interest of restoring the rights of every citizen of this country, there is no alternative to non-cooperation with the illegal regime of Hasina," Rizvi said, urging people to suspend the payment of all taxes, fees, utility bills and other payments from today.
He also asked people to reconsider the safety and security of keeping their money in banks as the financial institutions have become "another medium for plundering by this illegal government".
Rizvi urged voters to boycott the "one-sided dummy election" slated for January 7 next year.
"Do not go to the voting centres -- that is your democratic right."
The winners in the 12th national elections have already been decided, Rizvi said, while urging the returning officers to refrain from carrying out election-related duties on January 7.
The "lakhs of party leaders and activists" accused in what he called "false and fabricated cases" have been told to stop appearing in courts.
"This government has taken away the independence of the court and the judiciary's capacity to give you justice," Rizvi added.
Asked if the BNP would be able to achieve what the AL pulled off in 1996, Shantanu Majumder, a professor at the University of Dhaka's political science department, said: "The context is different this time."
In 1996, all the political parties including the Jamaat-e-Islami were against the BNP. But this time, it is AL and allies versus BNP and allies.
"BNP could not mobilise a good number of people to take to the street and that's why their movement did not yield any result," he said.
Since October 29, the BNP and its allies have enforced a series of hartals and blockades to press home their one-point demand.
The party held two rallies on December 10 and December 16, which helped boost the morale of the rank and file, BNP leaders told The Daily Star.
"Let's see how people respond to this non-cooperation movement call," Majumder added.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at the secretariate yesterday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that if the BNP men do not pay gas, electricity and water bills, the relevant government departments will take actions that they usually take for non-payment of bills.
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