Terming Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s call for national unity a mere political rhetoric, BNP today urged the nation to build unity demanding a fresh election under a nonparty caretaker government.

“Whatever is being said by her (PM) is all but talk. She speaks like this all the time. There is no reason to accept her call,” Fakhrul came up with the reaction while talking to reporters at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her first speech yesterday after holding office for the third consecutive terms, said, “Now, we need national unity; we've to move forward together forgetting our differences. The basis of our unity will be the spirit of the Liberation War, non-communalism, democratic values, equality, justice, development and advancement.”

The prime minister also called all the elected candidates of opposition parties to take the oath and join the parliament, saying that they would not be judged based on their numbers in the house.

Responding to the call, Fakhrul said, “We have rejected the election results and demanded a fresh election under a nonparty caretaker government. So, there is no question to join the 11th parliament.”

Fakhrul also blasted Sheikh Hasina also the president of the ruling Awami League as she did not keep her promises made to the opposition parties during the pre-polls dialogue.

Sheikh Hasina formed the government for the three consecutive terms after securing a big victory with 257 seats while BNP along with Jatiya Oikyafront got only eight seats out of 299 constituencies in the December 30 national election.

After forming the government, the prime minister feels the need for a clarification on why BNP met a setback in the election and thus she just came up with the address, Fakhrul said.

“I heard her (PM) speech. It seems to me that her speech was an outcome of a guilty conscience. She (PM) feels something was done wrong and it has to be clarified; that’s what she did,” Fakhrul said.

He also criticised mass media for playing a silent role over the “election irregularities” and said, “No one dares to dig out the facts fearing the ruling quarter”.

Besides, the facts have been reported in the international media and they proved that no credible election was held in Bangladesh, the BNP leader said.

“A joke was done with the nation [through holding such election] and I said it was a cruel mockery,” Fakhrul said adding the December 30 national election has appeared to be a cause of long-term damage for Bangladesh.

“People have lost their faith in the Election Commission and the state organs as all the state machinery including the law enforcement agencies were used in manipulating the election,” Fakhrul alleged.

Blasting the government for “letting loose all the state mechanisms against the people” during the polls, Fakhrul said, “It is not only BNP men, all the conscious people of the country think that no election was held on December 30 in the true sense.”

Fakhrul also came down heavily on the prime minister for presenting a list of development and said poor people have become poorer while the rich became richer due to her “so-called touch of development activities”.

Prices of all goods went out of the purchasing capacity of the people while their buying capacity drastically came down due to the government’s indulgence in “corruption and mismanagement”, he said.

He also slammed the government for “ongoing mismanagement” in the country’s banking sector and said there is no secured investment-friendly atmosphere in the country.   

Claiming that there is “no minimum value of people’s lives” in the country, he said, “No one has dared to raise a question against the government as a one-party rule has already been materialised in the country.”