Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Friday said that the AL was not a dew drop on an arum leaf that would fall with a little touch rather the root of the party reached deep into the soil of this country.
He made the remark while addressing a brief rally organised before bringing out a colourful procession in the capital in the afternoon, marking the 75th founding anniversary of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League.
He addressed the rally from a temporary stage set up on the premises of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh adjacent to Suhrawardy Udyan.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said that BNP was threatening the government that it would wage a movement.
鈥楤ut, we clearly want to say that the source of our strength is the people of Bangladesh. The Awami League is not a dew drop on an arum leaf, which will fall with a little jolt,鈥� he said.
He said that the AL was not a weak party but BNP was a fake party as its movement was fake and the country鈥檚 people did not belong to the fake party.
Criticising the BNP, the AL general secretary said that the people were not with the BNP in the past and would not be with the party in the future too.
Vowing that the Awami League is not a party to bow down (to anyone), he said that the Anti-Corruption Commission and the judiciary were independent, and if an individual commits offenses, he or she would be brought to justice.
Quader said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina had the courage to bring offenders to justice.
He said that it should be mulled whether the plot going on today was to remove the Awami League or not.
If any party resorts to arson attacks and the politics of killing in the name of the movement, the AL is ready to resist it on the streets, the road transport and bridges minister said.
Urging AL activists to remain alert against rumours, he said, 鈥楻emain alert and be careful. BNP is spreading rumours against the Awami League鈥�. they [BNP] are plotting to show the Awami League as a corrupt party by spreading rumours.鈥�
AL presidium members Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretaries Ahmad Hossain, BM Mozammel Haque, Mirza Azam, SM Kamal Hossain, Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel and Sujit Roy Nandi, publicity and publication secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap, Dhaka north city AL president Sheikh Bazlur Rahman, Dhaka south city AL president Abu Ahmad Mannafi, Jubo League president Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Dhaka north city mayor Atiqul Islam and Ferdous Ahmed, MP, also spoke.
Later, Obaidul Quader formally inaugurated the procession. The procession started from the premises of the IEB and ended after reaching the historic Bangabandhu Bhaban premises at Dhanmondi-32 after parading Shahbagh, Elephant Road and Mirpur Road.
