The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday said that the proposed 2024–25 national budget was not only anti-people, but anti-Bangladesh also.
‘You [people] will see that the entire budget has been made for mega projects, mega theft and mega corruption. So I won’t call it only an anti-people budget, but anti-Bangladesh budget too,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.
The press conference was organised to give formal reaction on the proposed national budget announced in the Jatiya Sangsad on June 6.
‘It has become a country of robbers. The government has become a looter. The looter government has given this budget to loot again and planned to loot again,’ he said.
He said that in the so-called budget, the expenditure was shown at a much higher level than income and revenue, and that the budget would pass the whole burden onto the common people.
‘What will be done to meet the expenses? All the pressure will fall on the common people and their pockets will be cut. Grants or loans are being taken from abroad,’ he said, adding that loans were also being taken from the local banks.
‘Common people will carry the burden. But how many burdens will the common people bear?’ he asked.
Inflation soared to the extreme, he said, adding that food prices in particular increased past the affordability of the common people.
‘Petrol, diesel and electricity prices hiked a few days ago. It led to the increase in the commodity prices. As the budget has arrived, the prices will increase again,’ he said.
Fakhrul also mentioned that the under the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, prices would be adjusted four times every year and said, ‘What are we paying this money for? Everyone knows that there has been theft in the power sector, that there has been theft in the energy sector. From these quick rentals to importing electricity from Adani in India, everywhere they have made their pockets heavy.’
He said that the Awami League is talking about the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
‘Where is Rooppur plant? Where did the Payra port work? You [AL] had much tall talk about the flyover and elevated expressway. But are you solving the problems of the ordinary people?’ the BNP leader asked.
People could no more bear it and were moving to villages now as they could not survive in Dhaka city.
‘15 per cent tax has been imposed to whiten black money, but 30 per cent tax has been imposed on legitimate income. Those who pay and who follow the path of justice are under pressure,’ he said.
‘Nothing happens to those who do wrong. How does a government official make wealth worth thousands of crores of taka?’ he said, adding that there were many more of such incidents.
The BNP secretary general also addressed a separate programme in Dhaka in which he accused the Awami League government of rendering Bangladesh economically dependent on foreign countries.
‘The government is selling out the country for their own interests to stay in power. Their actions have made Bangladesh reliant on others,’ he said.
