DHAKA, Feb 6 : The BNP manifesto released on Friday, days ahead of the February 12 election in Bangladesh, has sought to build relations with neighbours for “collective progress,” even as it announced measures to prevent all border killing and push-ins, in an apparent reference to India.
The 51-point manifesto released by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rahman also promised a funding hike for the welfare of Hindus and other religious minorities.
“We will build relations with other countries maintaining my country’s interest, independence and sovereignty,” Rahman said at a hotel here.
The BNP is committed to build relations of equality, cooperation and friendship with “our neighbours” and the foundation of that relationship “will be mutual respect and understanding, which will ensure collective progress.”
According to the manifesto, the BNP will adopt “Bangladesh First” as the core philosophy of state governance, the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said.
Rahman, 60, was elected as the party chief last month after the demise of his mother, BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
The party emerged as the forerunner in Bangladesh’s changed landscape in the absence of the now disbanded Awami League of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. BNP’s crucial ally for decades Jamaat-e-Islami has now become its main rival.
The BNP said it will give the highest priority to implementing the 19 points of late president Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda Zia’s Vision-2030, Tarique Rahman’s 31-point State Reform plan, and the several provisions of the July National Charter, the BSS added.
The BNP manifesto said if elected to power it would emphasise establishing bilateral and multilateral relations with all states based on equality, fairness and pragmatism, recognition of mutual interests.
The manifesto did not name any country, but in a clear reference to India said, “fair share of water from the Padma (Ganges), Teesta and all trans-boundary rivers of Bangladesh will be ensured.”
“Since any attack on the people of Bangladesh is naturally unacceptable, strong measures will be taken to prevent all unfair activities including border killing and push-ins,” it read in an apparent reference to India.
The charter said the BNP would play a “strong role” to maintain peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and achieve economic prosperity.
Rahman promised to ensure Bangladesh’s “traditional inter-faith harmony” saying, in line with the party’s fundamental principle, “religion is individual, the state is for all.”
“Every religious person will enjoy full rights to practice their religion and no one will be allowed to hurt any citizen’s religious beliefs” and increased funds would be allocated for welfare trusts for Hindus and followers of other religious faiths to strengthen their welfare activities.
Dhaka Tribune said the manifesto commits to introducing honorariums and training-based welfare programmes for religious leaders of places of worship of all faiths to strengthen religious and social harmony.
The manifesto dedicated a large chapter on the defence system promising to develop a “four dimensional armed forces” with “credible deterrence capability” and highlighting the importance for keeping them away from politics.
“Armed forces will be kept beyond all politics,” Rahman said.
According to the manifesto, the BNP’s goal is to transform Bangladesh into a modern, democratic, upper-middle-income country with a trillion-dollar annual GDP economy by 2034.
The party also set a target to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio to 15 per cent which is now less than 7 per cent through “realistic and effective initiatives” without increasing the tax burden.
The BNP chairman concluded his statement saying his party would eventually emphasise on three major issues — “combating corruption, ensuring rule of law and establishing accountability.”
“This manifesto is not merely an electoral pledge; it is a declaration of a new social and state contract with the citizens of Bangladesh,” the manifesto read.
It said, “BNP believes not in revenge, but in a politics of justice and humanity” in an apparent reference to the now disbanded Awami League as its most leaders were in jail or on the run.
Hasina is in exile in India while a special tribunal handed her the death sentence after trial in absentia last year accusing her of committing crimes against humanity to tame a violent protest, dubbed July Uprising, that toppled her government on August 5, 2024.
The BNP manifesto with title being “Shobar Ageh Bangladesh” or “Bangladesh First”, divided in five sections, came two days after its rival Jamaat announced its manifesto. (PTI)
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