<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Information and Broadcasting Minister and Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud today urged the AL men and cultural activists to put the state on guard for the next 100 days as BNP wants to hand over the country to their foreign master.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“People are the safeguard of state power. But you have to be vigilant to save the country, as BNP-Jamaat wants to hand it over to their foreign masters,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister said this while addressing a meeting at an auditorium of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC) here.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote (BSJ) organised the discussion marking the 60th birthday of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s youngest son, Shaheed Sheikh Russell.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Hasan said that the BNP knows very well that they will not be able to go to power through an election. Their ultimate goal is to hatch a conspiracy to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The information minister said BNP and Jamaat will become extreme Muslims when the polls come, giving different statements against the Awami League. But BNP and Jamaat are not concerned about the real problem of Muslims. He added that they are actually taking sides in favor of Israel, brutality, and war crimes.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasan Mahmud said BNP leaders remain silent when innocent Palestinians and children are being killed like birds. They are silent in fear of annoying big powers; that means they are in favor of Israel, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Urging the BNP leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, not to act as the leader of the ‘lathiyal bahini’ of Begum Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, the minister said, “Please act as a politician... do work for the country.”</div><div><br></div><div>Hasan said that Mirza Fakhrul, after being elected as a lawmaker in the 2018 election, was barred from taking an oath by his supreme leader. All BNP lawmakers were forced to resign from the parliament at their directives.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact, Hasan Mahmud said that Begum Zia and Tarique Rahman don’t want the other leaders of the party (BNP) to go to the election and be elected as lawmakers.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister said it is not possible to topple the government by holding rallies or forming a human chain. Their same attempt went futile in 2013 and 2014, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasan said the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is pledged to hold a free, fair, neutral, and transparent election.</div><div><br></div><div>The people of the country would take part in the next election with enthusiasm, he said, hoping that the BNP would also take part in the poll.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier, the minister paid glowing tribute to Shaheed Sheikh Russell and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.</div><div><br></div><div>He said Russell was brutally assassinated along with most of his family members, including his father Bangabandhu, on August 15, 1975.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Hasan said if Sheikh Russell had been alive today, he could have contributed a lot to national life. But the killers did not spare him, he added.</div><div><br></div><div>He said the killing of Russell will remain a heinous crime in history. The trial of the killers has been done, but it is not sufficient. The masks of the kingpins of the brutality, including Ziaur Rahman, should be exposed, said Hasan.</div><div><br></div><div>AL national committee member Advocate Boloram Poddar, Ekushey Padak winner Dr Arup Ratan Chowdhury, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) vice president Manik Lal Ghosh, BSJ leader SD Rubel, journalist Redowan Khandaker, and Muhammad Rokan, among others, addressed the meeting with BSJ executive president Md Rafiqul Alam in the chair. BSJ general secretary Arun Sarker Rana conducted it. - BSS</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>