Tarique Rahman in BBC Bangla interview: I will return home soon, participate in the elections

After a long gap of almost two decades, Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of BNP, one of the main political parties in Bangladesh, has given an interview to any media. In this long interview, Tarique Rahman highlighted the party’s strategy for the upcoming elections, the politics of Awami League and the trial of their leaders and activists, and the BNP’s position on various contemporary issues including election-centric politics in Bangladesh. The interview was conducted by BBC Bangla Editor Mir Sabbir and BBC Bangla Senior Journalist Qadir Kallol. The first part of the entire interview is presented to the readers today.

BBC Bangla: Tarique Rahman, thank you very much for joining BBC Bangla.
Tarique Rahman: Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak.
BBC Bangla: How are you? How is your time going?
Tarique Rahman: Alhamdulillah, I am physically healthy. Time is naturally busy. Physically I may be in this country, but mentally and emotionally I have been in Bangladesh for the past 17 years.
BBC Bangla: We are talking to you at a time when Bangladesh stands at a crucial juncture in history. In 2024, a historic mass uprising ended the decade and a half rule of the Awami League government. And in a few months, Bangladesh is heading towards an election. In the meantime, you have attended many of your party’s events, spoken and have been making regular speeches. But you have not spoken to the media for so long. Why have you not spoken for so long?
Tarique Rahman: It is probably not like that, perhaps a little different. Actually, I am right. I have been in exile in this country for 17 years, but since the responsibility of the party has fallen on me, I have spoken to everyone in the village and the city, my leaders and workers, as well as the common people, have participated at various levels.
You must be aware that during the previous dictatorship, my right to speak was stopped by a court order. If I had wanted to say something to the media, maybe the media would have wanted to print it, but the media could not have printed it.
I once gave a speech at the Press Club. The next day, I saw that the members or the committee of the Press Club at that time had called a meeting and decided that they would not allow anyone to speak at the Press Club because I was declared a fugitive under the law. In this way, they tried to stop me from speaking.
I spoke, tried to reach out through various channels including social media, I reached out to people, God willing. So, I did not say what I did not say in the media. Maybe you could not have accepted or heard what I said at that time. Even if I wanted to, you could not have printed it, maybe you could not have publicized it. But I said that I did not stop.