DHAKA, June 16, 2020 (BSS) – Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said BNP is out to make ill efforts to use media as shield since the party is now on the back foot and carrying on its politics of rumor by misusing social and other media.
Slamming BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamir for his claim that media is in apprehension to speak the truth, he said the mass media is the mirror of society and it is always fearless in revealing the truth.
“Mass media reflects the society. It is the mirror of society and fearless in presenting the truth,” he said this in an online statement issued here today.
Quader, also minister for road transport and bridges, said the media has apathy to present BNP’s rumors that is why Mirza Fakhrul claimed “media remains scared in disseminating the truth”.
Terming Fakhrul as non-workaholic person, the AL general secretary said BNP leaders are out to show their ‘bravery’ with only words not deeds to conceal their failures.
The people has been witnessing that BNP is spreading rumors in social media and other media on different anti-government movements to take political advantage in the last one decade and they legitimized rumor-based politics, he said.
Responding to the BNP leaders’ frequent allegation that there is no democracy in Bangladesh, Quader said, “If there was no democracy, how could they get scopes to spread rumors against the government?”
“The people knew BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s ‘yes-no’ vote (referendum) and the party’s bagging of 99 percent vote in vote robbery in the name of multi-party democracy,” he said.
He said the people also had witnessed the democratic elections under the cover of military rule in 1979 and books and articles testify this history with clear evidences.
So, telling the theory of democracy does not suit the BNP, he added.
Lauding the journalists’ role in presenting news putting their life at risk, he extended thanks and gratitude to newsmen for taking it as challenge. He termed the journalists as frontline warriors to fight the crisis.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had put emphasis on practicing democratic culture in the true sense of its term to run the country with the spirit of Liberation War and to safeguard the nation from the menace of communalism, he said, adding that Bangabandhu believed that without the enforcement of democratic practice, democracy could not be sustainable.
Forming of Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bakshal) was the beginning of the voyage towards the establishing of democratic culture and BNP founder himself was an executive member of Bakshal, he said.
“Bakshal was not a single-party ruling system rather it was a national party accommodating all opinions, classes and professions,” he said.
In reply of Mirza Fakhrul’s comment that all newspapers were banned with the formation of Bakshal, the AL general secretary said around 126 daily and weekly newspapers were published during the period of Bangabandhu.
He said the architect of independent Bangladesh had just placed a structure on the basis of recommendations of a committee comprising journalists for establishing the practice of objectivity and responsibility in the arena of journalism.
Quader sought cooperation from all parties to face the crisis triggered by the outbreak of deadly coronavirus (Covid-19).