BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has said that the ruling Awami League is cheating the Hindus in Bangladesh beneath a veil of ‘secularism’.
She made the allegation on Tuesday while exchanging greetings with Hindus after the just-concluded Durga Puja.
Khaleda said: “It’s they (Awami League) who are grabbing lands and temples of the Hindus. They even say, ‘Why must you, being Hindus, join BNP?’”
As she spoke, a member of the audience said: “Madam, the Awami League (men) call us ‘Hindu Razakar’ because we support the BNP.”
The BNP chief said: “This is the Awami League.”
More than 50 Hindu clerics from different temples and monasteries in Dhaka attended the programme arranged by the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Welfare Front, a pro-BNP forum, at the Institution of Engineers auditorium.
BNP’s Hindu leaders and activists from across the country also joined the programme.
Addressing the religious minorities, Khaleda said: “If you remain with the BNP, you will feel the difference with others. The BNP is a party of all people belonging to all religions.”
She said during her tenure as the prime minister, the government was of the people, ‘not of any party or individual’.“We want to form the government in future having everyone with us.”