...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
yesterday said the main opposition party doesn't understand the language of democracy, it only knows how to kill and torture people.
"The BNP was born out of the pocket of a military dictator, who grabbed power through a coup and plot violating the constitution. That's why the party doesn't understand the language of democracy," she said.
Whenever the BNP comes to power, doomsday dawns in the country and people die, Hasina said at a huge rally, organised by the ruling Awami League, at Barolekha Degree College Ground in Moulvibazar.
"They cannot change the lot of people; they only know how to loot people's property," she said.
Hasina, also president of the ruling AL, came down heavily on the leader of the opposition for enforcing hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
during the junior school certificate (JSC) examinations.
"Before November 4, I requested Begum Zia not to call hartal, and let the children sit for exams. But she turned down my request and announced hartal from November 4, the day the JSC exams were scheduled to begin," she said.
"She is a mother . . . didn't it strike her that she should not cause trouble for the children, rather she should make arrangements so that they can sit for the exams peacefully," said Hasina.
By enforcing shutdowns,
Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
gave people nothing but deaths, said Hasina.
She mentioned the killing of 14-year-old Monir Hossain, who was set on fire by pro-hartal pickets during the opposition's shutdown on November 4 in Gazipur.
When Monir was burning inside a covered van, BNP-Jamaat men were laughing standing next to the vehicle, said Hasina.
"Could you imagine how cruel they are? Are they human being?"
Joining hands with the BNP, the Jamaat and the Hefajat-e-Islam
...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home...
are burning the people to death, she said.
"How those who burn people and torch the holy Koran will protect Islam?" asked the prime minister.
She urged people to vote the AL back to power, saying the country sees huge development when her party is in power.
On the other hand, she said, when the BNP assumes power, the party men amass wealth through corruption and money laundering.
Hasina claimed that Khaleda whitened black money by paying a fine, while her two sons siphoned off crores of taka abroad.
She alleged that Khaleda and her two sons also embezzled the money of an orphanage. "The opposition leader doesn't appear in court for fear of punishment."
On the trial of war criminals, the prime minister said, "We have begun the trial. The tribunals have started delivering verdicts, and Insha'Allah the judgments would be executed."
Earlier, the prime minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones of a number of development projects in Moulvibazar.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, AL Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu and Suranjit Sengupta, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, AL Organising Secretary Misbahuddin Siraj and Chief Whip Abdus Shahid also spoke at the rally.