Jainul Abdin Faroque The ongoing boycott of Indian products would continue in Bangladesh, said Jainul Abdin Faroque, adviser to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, on Monday.
"The Indian product boycott movement is going on and it will continue. We are not against the people of India. We are against Indian aggression."
"India is helping the Awami League government to strangulate democracy," he told a human chain.
The programme was organised demanding the restoration of the caretaker government system for holding a free election and intensifying the ongoing boycott movement outside the National Press Club.
"We liberated our country through an independence war. But unfortunately, state power is now being used against the people of the country," said Mr Faroque.
"We considered India as our friend during our liberation war. Unfortunately, the same India now sits on the chests of people like a stone," he continued.
"If you (India) really like Bangladesh, then why are you continuously supporting this illegal government (Awami League)?" questioned the BNP leader.
Accusing the government of unleashing oppression of the people and the opponents by using state power, he said, "People won't accept your acts to kill democracy and suppress the opponents."
"You (the ruling party) always talk about the spirit of the liberation war. Please tell the people in which sectors you took part in the war?" he asked.
AL general secretary Obaidul Quader is a leader of a big political party. So, his comments should be balanced and restrained, according to Mr Faroque.
"We want to say that you (the AL) couldn't eliminate BNP," he uttered.
BNP's Swechchhasebak affairs secretary Mir Sorafat Ali Sopu and organising secretary of BNP Dhaka division Abdus Salam Azad, among others, were present.
Meanwhile, deprived and former central leaders of Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal demanded that the party high-ups dissolve the incumbent Jubo Dal committee and form a new one by inducting active as well as tested leaders.
They said the present committee became inactive and it was the demand of the time to dissolve the present committee and constitute a fresh one.
To press home their demand, they brought out a procession from China Town Market at 12:00 noon that terminated outside the party's Nayapaltan office.
The enraged former Jubo Dal leaders alleged that the present 250-member committee was formed by the leaders who were mostly incompetent, inactive and intended to leave the field during crisis.
They said only a few leaders of the present committee took part in the anti-government movement last year while a majority skipped the streets.
They alleged that many leaders of the present Jubo Dal committee went abroad with family members at that time, also posting their pictures on social media.
Even many kept themselves away from observing hartal as they opened their respective businesses during the political programme, they claimed.
The chain of command of Jubo Dal has collapsed as most of the present leaders did not attend the meeting called by the executive committee, according to them.
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