India is hatching a deep conspiracy, suspects Rizvi

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has alleged that India is hatching a deep conspiracy against Bangladesh by sheltering the fallen autocrat Sheikh Hasina and other genocidal perpetrators. He said that although the Bangladesh government has repeatedly urged India to repatriate Sheikh Hasina and her accomplices, India is not complying. Rather, the day after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman decided not to attend the BRICS summit, a drama was staged by stopping power supply from the Adani Power Plant.

Rizvi made this allegation while speaking as the chief guest at a human chain and protest rally organized by the Jatiyatabadi Muktijoddha Dal in front of the National Press Club on Wednesday (September 16) morning.

Addressing India, Rizvi said, "You claim to be our friend- country, and we also say so. But what kind of friend are you? You have sheltered that bloodthirsty Sheikh Hasina, who drank the blood of 1,400 youths, adolescents, students, the public, and workers after '71. Those who open fire on democracy-loving people and carried out genocide with her are also hiding there. Yet the Bangladesh government has repeatedly sought their return in accordance with court warrants but is not getting them."

Referring to a former major accused in the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Rizvi said, "If you can catch that former major and hand him over to Sheikh Hasina, then why are you not handing over Sheikh Hasina, who killed 1,400 people? What is your intention behind keeping her? Surely there is some deep conspiracy. Even though you speak sweet words of friendship outwardly, inwardly you are weaving a web of conspiracy centering on Sheikh Hasina."

Regarding Prime Minister Tarique Rahman not joining the BRICS summit, Rizvi said, "Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is the prime minister of an independent and sovereign country. Yet he was invited to BRICS not as a head of government, but rather in a way that would have seated him on the sidelines as the BIMSTEC chairman. As the prime minister of an independent country, he rejected that disrespectful invitation. This is not his personal decision, but rather a symbol of upholding Bangladesh's sovereignty and dignity."

He added, "The day after the prime minister said he would not go to BRICS, the Adani Power Plant announced that their unit had broken down. This switch is in India's Jharkhand; they shut it down whenever they wish. One does not need a barrister-at-law degree or a PhD to understand this trick; ordinary people of the country understand it too."

Criticizing the previous government, BNP Acting Secretary General Rizvi noted, "For the past 16 years, looting, bank money laundering, enforced disappearances, and secret killings took place in the country. Processions of corpses floated in the Shitalakshya, Padma, and Buriganga rivers. From that darkness, a student-public revolution on August 5, 2024, and later, through a free, fair, and neutral election on February 12, 2026, a government was formed by the mandate of the people."

He said, "Today, in parliament and outside, the opposition party is spreading falsehoods and hurling abuses against the government morning and evening. But has any opposition leader been disappeared? Has there been any extrajudicial killing? No. Because ensuring the people's freedom of speech and the rule of law is the main commitment of the current government."

Regarding the ongoing gas and fuel crisis, Rizvi said, "The gas and fuel problem is not a crisis created by the government. It is a global crisis created by the Iran-United States war and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. Even amid this, the government is trying day and night. As an alternative, efforts are being taken to keep the supply to industries, factories, and households normal by importing gas from East Asian countries—Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar."

He claimed, "Even amid such a global crisis, the flow of remittances into the country has increased, and the foreign exchange reserves have increased by about two and a half to three times compared to Sheikh Hasina's era. It is because of planned economic management that the country has turned around today."

Expressing anger over the recent Madhur Canteen controversy, Rizvi said, "The people of this country will not tolerate any attempt to erase the achievements of '71. Recently, undesirable activities have been seen in Dhaka University and several other places. Trying to turn Madhur Canteen into 'Bishram Manjil' is an extreme insult to the sacrifice of the martyr Madhu. Madhu of Madhur Canteen is a martyr of '71. If the defeated forces of '71 want to take revenge in a different manner, then the freedom-loving students, the public, and freedom fighters of this country will resist it."