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National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener and Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam on Sunday accused the BNP government of striking a secret deal with India, alleging that the arrangement was linked to instability in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
“The BNP came to power by striking a deal with India. Now it is destabilising the hills in the same way,” Nahid said at a public outreach programme in Mirpur-10 in the afternoon.
He alleged that the BNP was maintaining a clandestine relationship with India that was contributing to unrest in the hill regions and killings along the Bangladesh-India border to exert pressure on Bangladesh.
“Whenever India wants to pressurise Bangladesh, it creates unrest through hill separatists, shoots people dead at the border, or else opens the sluice gates of some rivers,” he said.
Nahid also expressed concern over the future of the Ganges water-sharing treaty, questioning the government’s position on its renewal and its approach to negotiations with New Delhi.
“We do not know what the government is thinking about the Ganges treaty. We have serious doubts about what kind of deal they will make with India,” he said.
Criticising the government over its handling of the referendum verdict, the NCP chief described it as “illegitimate” and accused it of refusing to implement the people’s decision.
“We wanted a radical overhaul of the constitution, but the government is amending it instead. They should remember that any future government can declare this amendment illegal at any time,” he said.
Nahid further alleged that the government’s failure to implement the referendum decision was indirectly lending legitimacy to the Awami League’s previous governments.
“The Awami League’s 10th, 11th and 12th parliaments are still legally valid. By not implementing the referendum, the Awami League is gaining legitimacy for its previous rule. Yet it is BNP that had been calling the Awami League illegitimate for years,” he said.
He expressed concern that the BNP was creating political space for the Awami League to return to mainstream politics, alleging that the party was effectively facilitating its rehabilitation.
Nahid also launched a sharp attack on State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam, alleging that he had secured his ministerial position through what he described as Tarique Rahman’s “friend quota”.
He accused the state minister of establishing a “fiefdom” in his constituency and alleged that he was independently announcing mayoral candidates.
“He is now announcing mayoral candidates himself, which is completely illegal,” Nahid said.
The NCP convener also claimed that the current administrators of city corporations should not be allowed to participate in any capacity in the upcoming local government elections, describing their positions as illegitimate.
The allegations made by Nahid at the programme were not independently verified.