The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina yesterday called upon the people to vote for the grand alliance candidates to safeguard the country from plunderers, corrupt and the patrons of militancy and terrorism.

"Today you should take oath to vote for the grand alliance so that the war criminals cannot hoist the national flags in their cars, which was achieved in exchange of blood of 30 lakhs of martyrs," she said.

Hasina made this call while addressing a vast gathering at the historical Paltan Maidan ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections organised by the Dhaka City Awami League.

Addressing the meeting Sheikh Hasina pledged to present the countrymen a prosperous, educated, industrially developed and digital Bangladesh, if voted to power.

"December is the month of victory. The people of the country led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman earned victory in 1971. The people will earn another victory against the anti-liberation forces, corrupt, militants and plunders by voting to power the grand alliance on December 29,"she said.

She expressed her confidence on achieving victory to establish a secular Bangladesh in the spirit of the liberation war.

Hasina asserted that during the last seven years the people had passed their lives amid intolerable miseries and panic. They want to bring an end to this instability. Only AL could remove people's sufferings, as AL is an organisation of the people.

She said that during the AL government the price of all the essentials were kept under control. But no sooner had the BNP-Jamaat government resumed office by rigging votes, they indulged in corruption and plundering money, which resulted in the increase in the price of essentials.

Indicating to the former finance minister of BNP-Jamaat government, she asked how could a finance minister pass a rule of turning black money into white? "Because there were a number black money holders among the policymakers of that government," she added.

Criticisng the BNP-Jamaat government she also mentioned that all the people of the country are fully aware about their corruption. The last example of their corruption of taking bribe from a foreign company Siemens was published in different dailies.

Referring to a comment of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia of voting the four party alliance to safeguard the sovereignty of country, Hasina said, " When we were in power, we brought Mig-29 and Frigate to strength our Air force and Navy. Beside this Frigates are used to explore oil in the Bay of Bengal. But later the BNP-Jamaat alliance tried to damage these and filed case against me. So how does Khaleda talk about protection of sovereignty?"

Hasina also blamed that the BNP-Jamaat government for shutting down a number of mills and industries that rendered thousands of people jobless. "Virtually BNP says 'save the country and save the countrymen'. But in reality it is 'kill people, sell country and transfer money abroad," she said.

Indicating to the Jamaat-e-Islam, she said they were doing politics by exploiting religion. But AL believes in equality of all the religions and communities.

Hasina also pledged to keep the price of daily essentials within the buying capacity of the people and to create employment opportunity for at least one youth from each family, if AL was voted to power.

She criticised the BNP-Jamaat government for spending Tk 20,000 crore without increasing a single mega watt of electricity and promised to enhance the capacity of producing electricity.

Hasina assured of food security for the people through achieving self-sufficiency in food so that no one has to starve. "To ensure health security, we will establish 18,000 community clinics so that the people can get treatment from their home," she added.

Hasina said, " The main theme of our electoral manifesto, Vision-2021, the year of golden jubilee of independence, is to present the people an educated, self-dependent, prosperous Bangladesh, which will be modernised in information technology."

Explaining about the digital Bangladesh, she said, " Digital Bangladesh means computer based Bangladesh, where every children of both rural and urban will get computer and internet facilities and all office system will be computerised."

About progress of country's economy during AL government tenure, Sheikh Hasina said, "AL believes that private sector is the key to a vibrant economy. That is why we, during the AL government privatised some banks and approved some private TV channels to be aired and handed over the operation of Khulna port to the Navy."

She pledged to take all necessary steps to improve country's rail, highways and water communications and to make Bangladesh fit for taking the challenge of the 21st century.

In the meeting Hasina introduced the AL candidates of the grand alliance for different constituencies of the Dhaka city.

The candidates are Advocate Kamrul Islam for Dhaka-2, Sanjida Khanam for Dhaka-4, Mizanur Rahman Khan Dipu for Dhaka-6, Mostafa Jalal Mahiuddin for Dhaka-7, Rashed Khan Menon for Dhaka-8, Saber Hossain Chowdhury for Dhaka-9, AKM Rahmatullah for Dhaka-10, Asaduzzaman Khan for Dhaka-11, Barrister Fazle-Nur-Tapash for Dhaka-12, Jahangir Kabir Nanak for Dhaka-13, Md Aslamul Haque for Dhaka-14, Kamal Ahmed Majumder for Dhaka-15, Md Ekias Ali Mollah for Dhaka-16, Advocate Sahara Khatun for Dhaka-18.

Tight security measure was taken at the meeting. Thousands of police, BDR, RAB, Army and SSF were deployed inside and outside the venue.

Around 50,000 gathered at the meeting. The audience overflowed to adjacent streets, which caused tremendous traffic jam.

Hasina is scheduled to visit Comilla, Feni and Chittagong today. She will hold her last electoral meeting at Laldhigi Maidan in Chittagonj in the evening.