Desk Report:
BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman said that he is not the mastermind of the movement that took place in July-August. He never sees himself as the mastermind of this movement. In his words, ‘This movement is the movement of the people. The mastermind of this movement is not any party or individual.’
Tarique Rahman expressed this position in a virtual interview aired on BBC Bangla on Monday. In response to the question whether he sees himself as the mastermind of the July movement, Tarique Rahman said, ‘No. I never see myself as the mastermind of this July movement.’
He also said, ‘Were only the leaders and activists of political parties in the field that day? Of course not. We saw that many madrasa students, housewives, farmers, workers, CNG drivers, small shopkeepers, garment workers came down that day. We saw that retired military officers and employees came down. Many journalists who were forced to leave the country due to the oppression of the dictatorship were involved in it. So we do not want to belittle anyone’s role. I believe that everyone, regardless of their party affiliation or class, has a contribution to this movement. This movement is a people’s movement. The mastermind of this movement is not any party or individual.’
To a question from BBC Bangla about how much direct contact you had with the student leaders of the movement, Tarique Rahman said, ‘Naturally, since I am working from outside (outside the country), I had to keep the communication online. You must remember what the dictatorship did to the telephone system or online system in those days. The communication you mentioned, we had to do directly and indirectly in various ways. We had to do it through various means. The communication was not very smooth. We cooperated with everyone.’ According to him, ‘Here is the July movement – although it was successful in July, its context started many years ago. In this movement, the leaders and activists of the democratic political parties of Bangladesh – be it BNP or any other political party – were persecuted in various ways, the parties contributed in various ways. “I think that in July-August, the people participated with all democratic political parties.”
