BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has alleged that the state and public universities are working together on a “master plan” to suppress nationalist political forces. He made the remarks on Sunday at a discussion and prayer meeting held at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
Speaking at the event — organized by the Diploma Engineers Association of Bangladesh to mark BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s health concerns and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman’s 18th anniversary of release from prison — Rizvi questioned whether “a deep blueprint” exists to eliminate BNP after Awami League.
“Is there now a conspiracy between the state and university authorities to implement a master plan?” he asked. “They’re saying: we ousted the Awami League, now BNP must also be crushed. Is this not part of a deep blueprint?”
He warned that new forces are emerging in the country posing “serious threats to democracy, religious freedom and cultural diversity,” adding that these forces are “dangerous for the practice of democracy and for people’s religious consciousness.”
On the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) and Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) polls, Rizvi criticized the printing of ballot papers by a private press reportedly linked to a political party, calling it “irregular” and questioning why state presses were not used. He said such irregularities had prompted some Jahangirnagar University teachers to step down from election duties.
Rizvi also criticized the Dhaka University vice-chancellor for adopting a code of conduct barring alumni from entering the campus. “A university is not an isolated place; it’s a lifelong aspiration. Alumni have an emotional connection with their university,” he said, alleging the VC acted to “monopolize” the election in cooperation with pro-government groups.
He further accused some figures involved in past uprisings of trying to impose a new cultural dominance. “BNP upholds a political and cultural tradition rooted in the soil of Bangladesh,” Rizvi said. “Jamaat-e-Islami wants to promote Maududist ideology, but Islam has been established here long ago and the people have their own opinions on this.”
