BNP MP Md Harunur Rashid (Chapainawabganj-3) on Tuesday demanded the resignation of State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Md Abdullah for his misleading announcement of the Eid-ul Fitr date, reports UNB.
"I hope that the religious affairs minister (state minister) will resign over this moon-sighting issue and the national moon-sighting committee will be abolished," he said taking floor on point of order in parliament.
The MP questioned what the job of the national moon-sighting committee is. "The moon is usually sighted in the evening. The moon is supposed to be sighted at 6:30pm or 7pm."
Harun said the State Minister came up with first announcement at 9pm saying the moon was not sighted anywhere in Bangladesh and that Eid would not be celebrated on June 5.
"When we went to bed after offering Tarabi prayers, expecting to perform fasting on the next day (June 5), the second announcement came at 11pm that the moon was sighted in Kurigram. Can the moon be sighted at 11pm?" he said.
The BNP MP demanded incorporation of authentic Bengali meaning of 'Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim' in the Constitution.
Harun said there is campaign that 'religion for respective individuals, festival for all' in the country, but Islam does not support this idea. "Those who carry out such campaign lack religious knowledge," he added.
"As long as Islam remains the state religion in the Constitution, it's not expected to create any misleading about the fundamental issues of Islam," he said.
Jatiya Party MP Pir Fazlur Rahman (Sunamganj-4) also criticised the state minister for religious affairs over the moon-sighting issue.
He said the state minister entertained the people by coming up with two contradictory announcements on the night before the Eid day.
The JP MP also demanded the statement from the Housing and Public Works Minister in the House under the Section 300 of the Rules of Procedure over widespread corruption in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in purchasing pillow and other household appliances.
Meanwhile, BNP MP Rumeen Farhana (Reserved Seat-50) criticised the government's role for not granting bail to BNP's jailed Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
"Khaleda Zia is definitely eligible for bail considering her age, health condition, social statues, gender and merit of the case. But she was denied bail because of pressure from the government," she said.
Rumeen, the lone reserved seat BNP MP, said that Khaleda was in jail in a 'false case', while the party's acting chief Tarique Rahman was being forced to live abroad.
"This is a great opportunity to come in parliament as a politician. I'm grateful for it. But honourable Speaker you know this parliament was constituted through a faulty election which has been criticism at home and abroad. This is an illegal parliament," she said in her two-minute speech.
At this stage, the ruling party lawmakers started hue and cry protesting her remarks as the Speaker asked the MPs to keep silent.
Later, Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan demanded expunging her remarks over the legality of parliament and election.
Responding to his demand, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury expunged Rumeen's words.
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