"After 25 Years, BNP Fields Rented Candidate with Khajur Gachh Symbol"

Rumin Farhana, independent candidate for Brahmanbaria-2 and recently expelled from BNP as its Joint International Affairs Secretary, has strongly criticised her former party for failing to field its own candidate in the constituency for the past 25 years.

Speaking at an election road meeting in Kuchni village, Noagaon Union, Sarail upazila on Tuesday afternoon (6 January), she said: “For the past 17 years, I have spoken eye-to-eye with a strong government like Sheikh Hasina’s. That’s why people love me. When big leaders kept their phones switched off, when party workers had to spend nights in paddy fields and beels, people saw me speaking up. They felt assured that someone was there to voice their concerns. So, don’t abandon me now.”

She further stated: “In Brahmanbaria-2 constituency, there has been no ‘Dhaner Shish’ (BNP’s sheaf of paddy symbol) candidate for the last 25 years. Even in 2018, when Advocate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan won on BNP’s ticket, he later joined Awami League. For these 25 long years, party workers had only one demand — that the party field its own candidate. Instead, a candidate had to be rented. And that rented candidate’s symbol is Khajur Gachh (date palm tree). Now we hear that ‘Dhan’ (paddy) is somehow the same as Khajur Gachh. But just as a duck cannot become a tiger, a date palm tree cannot become paddy. Because paddy is the lifeblood of the people.”

Context

Brahmanbaria-2 (comprising Sarail and Ashuganj upazilas, along with Budhanti and Chandura unions of Bijoynagar upazila) has been allocated by BNP to its alliance partner Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh. With BNP’s support, Jamiat’s Joint Secretary General Maulana Junayed Al Habib is contesting the seat. Rumin Farhana, who chose to run as an independent, has already been expelled from BNP for defying party discipline.