<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday called upon Bangladeshi expatriates to give a befitting reply to the propaganda against Bangladesh and its government.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Give an instant befitting reply to the propaganda being carried out against us,” she said while addressing a reception accorded by the Bangladeshi expatriates in the USA, joining virtually from her palace of residence New York on Saturday.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier also urged the expats to present true picture of the country’s unprecedented development that took place during the Awami League (AL) government’s and move around the world keeping head high maintaining the dignity and honour Bangladesh achieved globally.</div><div><br></div><div>She said relatives of the war criminals and killers of the Father of the Nation alongside the people who fled the country committing various crimes that included money laundering are behind the anti-state propaganda.</div><div><br></div><div>“The people, who are orchestrating the propaganda on the social media, are mostly sacked from the jobs for their involvement in misdeeds or fled the country committing crimes,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier called upon all to make public the characters and misdeeds of the people who are now giving lessons to others by spreading false and fabricated information about the government and Bangladesh using social media.</div><div><br></div><div>“Don’t pay heed to their words, rather present the development scenario carried out by us to the people,” she added.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina called upon all Bangladeshi expatriates to spread her government’s development picture to all the places.</div><div><br></div><div>“Inform congressmen, senators and elected representatives in your locality about the development of Bangladesh and maintain communication with them,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>To this end, she said you can judge how much development was carried out by them after seeing the comparative picture of the size of budget during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government and the Awami League government.</div><div><br></div><div>“The size of budget during the BNP tenure was only Tk 60,000 crore while the last budget of the AL government was Taka six lakh crore,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister reiterated her call to the expats to move around the world keeping Bangladesh’s image intact, saying, “I urge you all to uphold the dignity and honour that Bangladesh has now achieved from the world.”</div><div><br></div><div>She thanked the Bangladeshi expatriates for taking stand against the World Bank’s decision of withdrawing their fund from the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project bringing false and fabricated allegations which was later proved by a Canadian court.</div><div><br></div><div>The decision of constructing Padma Bridge by Bangladesh’s own finance has changed the image of the country to the world and proved that Bangladesh has the ability to do what it said, Sheikh Hasina said.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister once again alerted the countrymen about the impending severe food crisis in the world due to the climate change, Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict, sanctions and counter sanctions, urging them to grow more foods to ward off the future crisis.</div><div><br></div><div>“As a severe food crisis is approaching the world, ask your relatives not to leave a single inch of land uncultivated using the digital divide as Bangladesh has already been transformed into a digital country,” she asked the Bangladeshi expatriates. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>