‘Give an alternative for resolving the gas and electricity crisis’: Rizvi to opposition

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, acting secretary general of Bangladesh’s BNP, has challenged opposition parties to do more than announce marches and political programmes as the country faces shortages of gas and electricity.

“Give an alternative on how the gas and electricity crisis can be resolved,” Rizvi said at an event organized by the Bangladesh Dance Artistes Association at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. He said opposition parties could hold long marches and raise the issue in parliament, but should explain how and from where they would secure supplies.

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But give an alternative on how the gas and electricity crisis can be resolved. Creating planned instability or deliberately bringing the country to a standstill, however, is not right.

Rizvi said democratic parties had the right to organize programmes and criticize the government. But he urged them not to create what he called planned instability or deliberately bring the country to a standstill. Before launching a programme, he said, they should present a counter-plan and offer suggestions.

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You can hold a long march, but try to establish what is true. You can hold a long march for gas and electricity, that is fine. But the point is, give an alternative, tell us how and from where you will supply gas and electricity. Give us a suggestion.

“You are in parliament. You can raise the issue there. You can give a plan about what you will do. But we have not heard this from anyone in the opposition. We are only hearing about programmes,” he said. He added, “We cannot continue to be part of the rotten political culture of the past.”

Rizvi said the government was facing a gas and electricity crisis that had not been caused by its own actions. He linked the shortages to the global situation, including the conflict between the United States and Iran. Most fuel-carrying ships, he said, pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but risks there had prevented ships from arriving.

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We cannot continue to be part of the rotten political culture of the past.

The resulting shortage has made it difficult to operate power plants and factories and to provide fuel for household cooking, Rizvi said.

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The responsibility for the global war, the US-Iran war, does not lie with the Bangladesh government. Most of the fuel-carrying ships come through the Strait of Hormuz, but ships are currently not coming because of the risks there.