Civil society always looks at power usurpation: PM

Desk Report: Coming down heavily on the so-called civil society, Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said not seeing the country's development is a kind of their "sickness" as they always look at power usurpation.

"Bangladesh is marching fast towards development spree and the whole world is recognising it ... but it's unfortunate for the country that some people are not seeing it," she said replying to a supplementary from treasury bench member Fazilatunnesa Bappy during her question answer session.

Mentioning that such kind of people are blind and deaf despite having eyes and ears, the premier said they could not be seen and understood despite efforts for thousands of time.

She also raised a question about the definition of the civil society and wanted to know that on the basis of which theory, this kind of people have become civil society members.

The prime minister said there is a section of people in the country which have a desire to go to power and get a flag. "But they cannot appear before the people as they are unfit in voting politics," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said if anybody wants to pursue voting politics, he/she has to get the votes of the people. "If they want to sit in parliament they will have to be elected through votes," she said, adding but there is a section of people in the country who want to go to power through backdoor.

The prime minister said the politics of killing, coup and conspiracies was initiated after the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975 and such kind of people got the opportunity for going to power due to start of the culture of power usurpation.

"And the illegal power grabbers chose such kind of people to cling to power ... these people always remain ready to sell themselves to the power grabbers, hanging signboards in the front 'use me'," she said.

Sheikh Hasina also said this kind of people always wait for formation of the unconstitutional government by a powerful man. "Their importance will be enhanced, they will get a flag and can go to power if anybody captures power through martial law or emergency," she said.

Earlier, responding to a starred question raised by the same lawmaker, the Leader said Bangladesh's bilateral relations with France have been strengthened and deepened further due to his recent visit to the European country.

She said the Rohingya issue came up for discussion during her talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The premier said Bangladesh wants a durable and fair solution to the Rohingya crisis peacefully by maintaining good relations with Myanmar. "We've made arrangements of food, housing and healthcare for the forcibly evicted Rohingya people despite our resource constraints," she said._BSS

risingbd/Dhaka/January 24, 2018/A K Azad