The rally of the ‘Jatiya Oikya Prokriya’, convened by Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain and attended by leaders from the BNP and its 20-party alliance has called for the formation of a neutral polls-time government by Sept 30.
Dr Kamal presided over the rally while Jukta Front Chairman and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh President Dr AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury attended as the chief guest.
The rally also called for restructuring the existing election commission and dissolving the parliament before the Eleventh National Election.
“The people are deprived of their right to vote. We have gathered here to retrieve it. It was the people who united and achieved the victory in 1971,” Dr Kamal Hossain said addressing the rally.
“The objective of today’s national unity is to establish an active democracy; freedom of speech can be ensured through financial discipline in the country.”
The BNP, which joined the rally after a meeting with Badruddoza Chowdhury late on Friday, extended it all-out support to the Jatiya Oikya Prokriya.
“The government will have to resign and the parliament will have to be dissolved for fair polls,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to the rally.
“We are with you (Jatiya Oikya Prokriya) and will remain in the process to forge the greater national unity,” BNP National Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmad said.
Badruddoza’s Bikalpadhara, ASM Badur Rab’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya are trying to launch a third bloc before the next general election.
After forming the Jukto Front in December last year, they recently launched the bid to include senior lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain’s Gano Forum in the fold with the parliamentary elections scheduled between late December and early January.
By the end of August, they announced to work together with Dr Kamal-led platform ‘Jatoya Oikya Prokriya’.