Rizvi says artists’ 15 Aug grief was for gain
PARBATTA NEWS DESK
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has claimed that some poets, writers and actors expressed grief on 15 August without genuine feeling.
He said they had done so out of a desire for material gain and in support of what he described as fascism.
Rizvi made the remarks on Thursday (21 August) while attending the premiere of the documentary 36-July in Tejgaon, Dhaka.
He said that people involved in acting and the media should be among the most sensitive members of society.
“The scene of people running for their wounded friend and crying ‘Water, water’ did not move their hearts. Yet, in the name of mourning, they are posting and praising. In reality, they have sacrificed their genuine emotions,” he said.
The BNP leader described the July movement as “the collective manifestation of all forms of rebellion.”
He argued that 16 years of enforced disappearances, killings and extrajudicial executions had created deep anger among young people. According to him, that anger erupted in the protests seen in July.
Commenting on a book about Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Rizvi said he had initially believed it was written by Mujib himself.
“Later it was found that a police officer and his colleagues had prepared it under assignment. In return, crores of taka, flats and plots were given,” he alleged.
Rizvi further accused the government of misappropriating and laundering state funds abroad.
“About Tk 27 lakh crore has been siphoned off. Sheikh Hasina has used the people’s money for the interests of her party and family. The July mass uprising is the expression of that deprivation,” he said.
Bangladesh Journalists’ Welfare Trust managing director and former BFUJ president M Abdullah, Gono Odhikar Parishad president Nurul Haque Nur, BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Imran Saleh Prince, BNP publicity secretary Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, BNP volunteer affairs secretary Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, and RTV news chief Elias Hossain also spoke at the event.
