Tarique Rahman reveals who was the ‘mastermind’ of the July movement

BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has said that he never sees himself as the ‘mastermind’ of the July movement. He said, ‘The mastermind of this movement is not any party or individual. The mastermind of this movement is the democracy-loving people of Bangladesh.’
He said these words in a virtual interview given to BBC Bangla. The first part of the interview was published today, Monday (October 6).
In the interview, Tarique Rahman was asked, there is a lot of discussion about your role in the July mass uprising. Almost all parties have admitted this. You had an active role at that time. Again, some leaders or supporters of your party have called you the ‘mastermind’ of this uprising. Do you see yourself as the mastermind of this movement?
In response, Tarique Rahman said, ‘No, I definitely never see myself as the mastermind of this July movement.’ The August 5 movement, which is known or accepted by everyone as the July Movement, was successful, but its background started many years ago.
He said, ‘The leaders and activists of the democratic political parties of Bangladesh – be it BNP or other political parties – have contributed to this movement in various ways. Their leaders and activists have been persecuted in various ways. I think the people participated with all the democratic political parties in the months of July-August.’
Tarique Rahman said, ‘Were only the leaders and activists of the political parties on that day? Of course not. We saw that the madrasa students were also on the field of the movement that day.’
He also said, ‘We saw that housewives also took to the streets. We saw that everyone from farmers, workers, CNG drivers, small shop employees, shop owners to garment workers participated. We saw that retired officers and employees of the military also took to the movement. Many journalists who were forced to leave the country due to the tyranny of the dictatorship joined the movement. So we do not want to belittle anyone’s role. We do not want to belittle it.’
The acting chairman of BNP said, ‘I firmly believe that every person, regardless of party or class, has a contribution. This movement was a movement of the people of Bangladesh who believe in democracy. The main planner of this movement is not any party or any person. The main planner of this movement is the democracy-loving people of Bangladesh.’
Asked whether BNP actually has any responsibility for the student uprising that various parties have claimed credit for, Tarique Rahman said, ‘Let’s look at the matter a little differently. This is an unforgettable event in the history of Bangladesh so far.’
He said, ‘This movement, this sacrifice of people, generally in any political movement or anti-dictatorship movement, children are not killed, children are not martyred, children are not died.’ But we have seen that in this movement, as far as I remember, about 63 children have been martyred and died in this autocracy movement.’
Tarique Rahman said, ‘In response to your previous question, I have already said that the credit for this movement belongs to the people of Bangladesh, regardless of party affiliation, not to any political party. Many people may have said a lot, claimed, this is their position.’
He further said, ‘My or my party’s position is that the movement has been completed, the people of the movement have achieved success. The movement naturally has two sides. One side is that people have been martyred. About 2000 people have been killed in the movement. And the other side is that about 30,000 people have been affected in various ways, have been crippled, have been blinded.’
‘I think we should, now all of us should stand by the families of the state, government and political parties as much as possible. We should provide them with as much cooperation as possible, stand by them as much as possible. We should respect their sacrifice,’ added Tarique Rahman.