Jamaat Leader Hamidur Rahman Azad Questions BNP's Standing Committee Meeting at the Secretariat

A. H. M. Hamidur Rahman Azad, coordinator of the 11-party alliance and Assistant Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has raised strong questions regarding the BNP Standing Committee holding a meeting inside the Secretariat. Speaking to reporters on Thursday (August 13) after submitting nomination papers for the alliance's presidential candidate at the Election Commission building, Azad criticized the move as unprecedented.

"We have been hearing that BNP held its Standing Committee meeting inside the Secretariat at the Prime Minister's Office," Azad stated. "We want to protest this. The Secretariat is an executive space. There is no historical record of a political party's top-tier forum holding meetings there. If they are doing this, how do they view democracy? It seems like 'democracy if it's my way, autocracy otherwise.'"

The controversy arose following a high-level party meeting held to finalize the presidential candidate, during which Local Government Minister and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was chosen as the party's nominee for the presidential race.

Azad further criticized the ruling party over political dynamics and governance norms, pointing out that conducting top-level political party meetings within core government administrative headquarters undermines institutional boundaries and sets a concerning precedent.