Dhaka: Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr. Mohammad Shahinul Alam has asked for time from the protesting students to talk to the ministry and realize their demands in accordance with the official procedure.

He made these remarks while talking to those who were blocking the road at Shahbagh intersection in the capital at around 4:20 pm on Sunday (December 22).

Dr. Mohammad Shahinul Alam. said, "We got some space because you were in the field. I also agree that your patience has broken. All the protest demands of our doctors had to be rescued with great difficulty. Students played the highest role in the anti-Ershad movement. You also played a role in the movement of ‘24. Therefore, we agree that this movement should not fail. Doctors have protested on the streets and at the same time provided treatment. That means doctors are capable of achieving their rights, are capable of protesting and are also capable of alleviating public suffering. At the same time, when people suffer, doctors realize it first. There is no country in the world where residents are given a meager allowance which is less than the salary of many officers' drivers. In our country, teachers under private MPOs are also given an allowance.

Addressing the protesting students, he said, "We are telling you, we are on your behalf. As the vice chancellor of this university, I will go to the ministry again right now to speak on your behalf. We hope that your demands will be met. You give us some time. Be patient. You went to the ministry; we will go again on your behalf. This demand will be met in writing. You give us some time. Give us some time for what is officially prosecuted. We are hopeful that this demand of yours will be met."

Gazipur: One person died in a fire at a button factory in Gazipur's Sreepur. However, the identity of the deceased was not immediately known. A total of 7 units of Sreepur and Joydevpur Fire Services are still working to control the fire.

This information was given by Abdullah Al Arefin, Assistant Director of Gazipur District Fire Service, at around 4:30 pm on Sunday (December 22).

He said that one person died in a fire at a button factory in Gazipur's Sreepur. However, the identity of the deceased was not immediately known. The fire has not yet been brought under control. Our 7 units are continuing to work.

Earlier, the fire broke out in the Bhangnahati area of Sreepur upazila of the district at around 1:30 pm.

Eyewitnesses and the fire service said that a boiler explosion suddenly occurred in the button factory in Bhangnahati area at around 1:30 pm on Sunday. The fire spread from there within moments. At that time, when the factory workers started screaming, people from the surrounding area rushed to the spot. Upon receiving the news, three units of the Sreepur Fire Service went to the spot and tried to control the fire. By then, as the fire spread around, two more units of the neighboring Joydevpur Fire Service went to the spot and continued their efforts to control the fire.

The consensus of political parties on holding national elections by 2025 is growing. This time, Jamaat-e-Islami also agreed with BNP and like-minded parties on this question.

These issues have been raised in separate reports and interviews published in Prothom Alo and Manab Zamin's political magazine 'Janatar Chokh' on Sunday.

Although Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus recently gave an idea about the timing of the elections in his address to the nation, the parties were not satisfied with it because, the government has not discussed with the parties when the elections can be held. BNP and other parties say that their distance from the government is also growing due to not giving a clear statement on the elections.

The major complaint of the active parties is that the interim government has no regular, formal or informal communication with them. When a context is created, the Chief Advisor has called the political parties. So far, the government has held three meetings with the leaders of the political parties.

In an interview with The Diplomat (published in Janatar Chokh), BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “Most of the challenges and controversies that are currently in the country will be resolved in the elections. Until that happens, the arguments and debates will continue.”

Highlighting the importance of elections, the BNP Secretary General said, “As a liberal democrat, I believe in participatory politics, where all parties will have opportunities to participate – not excluding any politics. The people’s choice of political parties should be chosen through elections. That is why we strongly request that elections be held as soon as possible.”

He said, “Although there are allegations that ‘BNP is against reforms’ or ‘BNP is involved in corruption’, we started reforms two years ago. It will continue going forward. We are a nationalist party that firmly believes in democracy. This creates problems for those who prefer subjugation. We want a democratic Bangladesh where all problems will be solved democratically. The policy we want to ensure is that I may not agree with your opinion. But I will protect your right to speak freely.''

After the interim government's four-month anniversary, on December 16, in his speech to the nation on the occasion of the Great Victory Day, the Chief Adviser gave an idea about the timing of the elections. He said that the election time can be set between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026. Then, the Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam explained, 'You can hope that the elections will be held by June 30, 2026.''

However, the BNP leadership believes that there is no need for a long time for the elections. They want quick elections. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami, while talking about giving the necessary time for reforms, is now demanding elections by 2025. Political parties are seeing this as positive as the government's top brass is talking about elections, albeit late. But the statement about the elections is not clear and they have complained that no discussion has been held with the parties about giving an idea about the timing. Now the parties are demanding a roadmap based on consensus after discussing with them.

The BNP leadership believes that there is no need for a long time for elections. They want quick elections. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami, while talking about giving the necessary time for reforms, is now demanding elections by 2025. Political parties are seeing this as a positive as the election is being talked about from the top level of the government, even if it is late.

Saiful Haque, one of the leaders of the Ganatantra Mancha and General Secretary of the Biplobi Workers Party, who is in a simultaneous movement with the BNP, said that there is a discussion in politics about whether there is a section of the government behind the formation of a new party and whether there can be an attempt to prolong the elections to make room for them. And for these reasons, trust in the government is decreasing. As a result, it is necessary for the government to increase communication with them to understand the thoughts of the parties.

After the fall of the dictatorial regime, the student leaders of the coup are forming a new party. Various parties, including the BNP, have also raised the question of whether any party is being formed under state patronage. Some political parties and government supporters are also raising questions about BNP's demand for early elections. BNP leaders have also explained this in their speeches. The party's acting chairman Tarique Rahman recently said at a party event that as a political party, they will repeatedly talk about elections and want elections. This is normal.

However, there are various discussions within BNP regarding demanding early elections. Multiple sources in the party said that the interim government has failed to control prices, bring speed to the economy, control the law and order situation, and bring stability to the administration. The government is unable to handle the situation. And this is creating a negative perception among the people about the government. This situation is also being said to be one of the reasons behind the demand for early elections. The BNP leadership believes that the longer the elections are delayed, the more the crisis will increase.

BNP is also taking this into consideration that there may be various conspiracies. The party leaders believe that after the fall of the Awami League government in the student-public uprising, most of the ministers of that government, including the top leadership, fled abroad. But they also have many workers and supporters inside the country. There may be attempts to create various crises from their side. BNP is also taking this reality into account.

Some of the student leaders of the movement to overthrow the dictatorship are in the government. They are talking about forming a new party. Behind this There is a suspicion in the BNP whether it has the patronage of the state and the government or not. The party leaders also say so in their speeches.

The party says that the government has formed 11 reform commissions. It is not possible to implement all the proposals of all the commissions in one-two years. A senior BNP leader said that the BNP wants necessary reforms in only these four areas - the electoral system, law enforcement, public administration and the judiciary. Apart from these, all other reform proposals will be implemented by the elected government.

BNP believes that four-five months are needed to complete the necessary reforms and hold elections. As a result, the party does not want to wait until June 2026 for the elections. BNP will not object to holding elections by December 2025.

Meanwhile, despite expressing a strong position in favor of giving the interim government time for reforms, Jamaat-e-Islami is now talking about elections by 2025. The party had earlier said that elections would be held after completing all the reforms. There is a change in that position. Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar said yesterday that all the reforms are not possible now. Therefore, they want elections after completing the necessary reforms.

Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Amir Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said at a youth conference in Chauddagram, Cumilla, yesterday that the next national parliamentary elections must be held by 2025. All reforms must be completed within this period.

Poet, social thinker and human rights activist Farhad Mazhar has commented that political parties have weakened the current interim government. He said, ‘They (political parties) say that this or that cannot be done without an elected government. I say that Dr. Yunus’ government is elected. Our sons have elected him by becoming martyrs.’

Farhad Mazhar said these things in an exclusive interview given to Prothom Alo. In the interview, this thinker also spoke openly about various contemporary contexts. Selected parts of the interview have been published for the readers of Barta24.com:

In Bangladesh, no government has respected the agreement with the people regarding the state. They have occupied and subjugated the state. You have made a good constitution. Where can we get the guarantee that future governments will not violate it?

Farhad Mazhar: What I call a constitution cannot be imposed from above. The constitution I am thinking of is just a few pages long , short, simple, understandable to the people but with a wide scope. No law can be made that takes away the freedom, dignity and rights of any person or destroys life, nature and environment. Apart from this, how will the division of power in the state be, whether we want a presidential or prime ministerial system of government, whether the legislature will be bicameral or unicameral, if unicameral, will there be decentralized districts, without whose permission no economic policy can be adopted, what will the character of the local government be, what should we say to the divisions if it is decentralized—this is how the constitution should be made. You will have to listen to the people whose rivers, haors and water bodies have been encroached upon, by holding councils in villages and unions. A suitable local government system will be needed to ensure the management of these resources by keeping them under the control of the people. Yet the government is once again imposing the constitution from above. I have no complaints against Ali Riaz, he at least talked about rewriting the constitution. Badiul Alam Majumdar may also have some good ideas. But everything is being imposed from above. A white paper on corruption has been prepared. A very good work. But when you read it, it seems that it has been done for the ACC. They are still in the market and demand of the old neo-classical economy. That is my problem. Due to the control of the state by multinational companies of the international market, we are not able to develop our economy; we are not able to increase our wealth. We are not able to collect taxes. We have to present a different kind of economic plan. This white paper is very beautiful, but it will not be of any use in building a state. However, it is necessary to propose policies and strategies for national economic development based on the concept of popular sovereignty, standing against the free market system.

Let me ask the question differently. No matter what state system we build through restructuring or reform, it will be run by political parties. How can we prevent them from becoming arbitrary? They talk about reforming the state, but they do not talk about reforming themselves.

Farhad Mazhar: Political parties should not fully recognize the mass uprising. Do not give full power to the interim government under the mass uprising. Only then will you see how political parties have to deal with it. Political parties have weakened the government. They said that this or that cannot be done without an elected government. I say that Dr. Yunus' government is elected. Our sons were martyred and elected him. We will definitely criticize this government. He is running the government, not an institution like Grameen. Maybe there is weakness there, but we are not willing to listen to political parties saying that he is not elected. He was elected with blood. We did not give him full power. If he was given full power, he could have broken the syndicate. Jalmahal, rivers, canals could have been rescued. It would have taken less time to punish the BNP's encroachment in the areas. The main task now is to form a fully-fledged interim government. If we can do that, the rest of the problems will be easier to solve. We will decide whether the political parties you are talking about are actually political parties or not through the new constitution. The law that has been enacted in the People's Representation Ordinance, that law itself says who is a political party and who is not? So the new constitution will determine who is a political party and who is not. Then talk. Apart from that, should the Awami League be allowed to do politics as a fascist party? Or should the party that took a stand against the entire population in 1971 be allowed to do politics in this name? Islam is important because it is part of my history. But how it will remain is a matter of discussion. Islam will not be established if an Islamic state is created. Islam can play a role in my daily reality, morality, culture, etc. I have to internalize that. That is why I use the word constitution.

The reality of the time of the mass uprising is no longer there. How feasible are the proposals you are making now? Should I call you a dreamer?

Farhad Mazhar: Mass Uprising and Formation: I wrote the book on the development of mass political trends in Bangladesh in 2023. That is when I hinted at a mass uprising. I created a human rights platform to convince all political parties that a mass uprising must be done. The mass uprising has happened. After doing this, I have a lot of confidence. Bangladesh will be the center for restructuring the entire subcontinent. Our youth will have to take the leadership. I am sure that the words I am saying will be implemented.

Another Let's go with the government. Sheikh Hasina's government has justified all their injustices and corruption by presenting a narrow narrative of the Liberation War. As a result, after their fall, many are afraid that the Liberation War itself has come into question...

Farhad Mazhar: Look, what was our struggle in 1947? The landlord and moneylender class were exploiting us. The city of Kolkata has been built on the blood and sweat of our landless people. This is history. We did not want partition in 1947; we wanted a United Bengal Nation. If we can have a United States of India, why can't we have a United Bengal? Suhrawardy, Sarat Bose, and others wanted that, and Jinnah also agreed. We did not want partition. We have been taught that Muslims wanted partition. Now, as proven by historical research, this work was done by upper caste Babus. What happened after partition? We formed a religious state. India was also religious, which is now organized in the form of a Hindutva state. When our land issue was resolved, in 1952 we fought with culture and language. We became Bengalis with our blood. We are not just Indians, nor are we Indians from West Bengal. We had to be martyrs to become Bengalis. We had to give our blood to speak Bengali, to sing Rabindranath's songs. As a result, the liberation war is absolutely beyond any question. So if someone says that we are excluding 1971 with the mass uprising of 2024 that is absolutely nonsense. So what happened? We achieved an independent territory in 1971. But after that, we could not resolve many ideological issues. That is why we got a fascist government like Sheikh Hasina. The mass uprising of 2024 was held to resolve those ideological issues. Now it is the turn of forming a democratic Bangladesh state.

Through this, I established through the continuity of history from 1947 onwards that this country belongs not only to Bengalis, but to everyone, to all ethnicities, big and small, to all religions and beliefs, to all believers and atheists, etc. This Bangladesh will lead in the reconstruction of the entire subcontinent. For this, everyone will have to come out of the pre-colonial habitual thinking. Bengal will now come in different ways. Not in the form of Bakhtiar's horse, but Islam is an integral part of the history of the subcontinent. The history of the subcontinent is also the history of Islam. In other words, we are going through an intellectual-cultural revolution. The July mass uprising is proof of that. The mass uprising of 2024 will take us in that direction. In doing this, many of our weaknesses will be revealed. There will be many failures. But we will overcome them. We will be able to reach another level of history.

Our riverine Bengal has its own many religious views—Nath, Vaishnava, Shakta, Baul, Mareftan. They also have great demands.

Farhad Mazhar: Of course. These views are united among us. This has happened at the hands of Fakir Lalon Sai, Jalaluddin Khan, Radha Ballabh, Khalek Dewan, Abdul Halim or Fakir-Dervish-Bayati. Sufis have done it. Even before that, Buddhists have done it. Surprisingly, this has happened in East Bengal. Bengal has always dealt with religion through cultural movements. Prayers are performed; and next to it, songs are sung, ‘Manush Thuiya Khoda Bhaj, who gave this mantra?’

The contribution of the West is to present religion in the form of philosophy and law. In Islam, Allah always shows you some spiritual path or the other. No one can claim the truth because, man is limited by death. Bound by time and space. You are mortal. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) proved through the conquest of Mecca that there can be no identity centered on blood, tribe, or nation among people. People have only one identity, they are the children of Adam and Eve. They are basically one nation. In the anthropological sense, Allah created different nations and languages and said that they should try to recognize each other. They should all form a world society. What is the difference between communism and this? Marx did not call communism an ideology or religion, he explained it as a journey of human history in terms of forming a world society. Right?

This is the long road of our struggle, what future do you see for Bangladesh standing here?

Farhad Mazhar: I think we have done tremendously well as Bangladesh. Think of how many centuries the West had to go through to reach here! We have come this far in just 50 years. Now we are sitting in Dhaka and daring to confront the West. Rafiq and Jabbar were martyred in 1952. "The seeds of new consciousness that were sown through 'February ‘24, dyed with my brother's blood, can I forget it?' are the seeds that gave us Bangladesh through the Liberation War of 1971. We sowed another big seed in 2024. This will be a great victory. The next 50 years are nothing to them. The current young generation is thinking and dreaming strange things. This Bangladesh cannot be defeated. You can fight, you can stop the civil war, but Bangladesh will never become Syria. The Middle East has not developed such thoughts as our youth. I keep some track of what is happening in the Middle East. And Islam came to the Middle East 1500 years ago. We have been carrying a long history here for more than that. Various religions, ideologies, poetry, literature have enriched us in various ways. We have to stand with this whole mind. We want to create the political space that is needed for this in Bangladesh. India has lagged behind Bangladesh here. He will not be able to run with us because of Hindutva. The intellectual and cultural revolution will happen here within the Bengali language. The main seed of our consciousness has been planted. The foundation has been laid. I am not disappointed even a little.