National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam said that just as success was achieved on August 5, the 11-party alliance would similarly succeed on February 12 and return home with victory.He said the safety of voters, including women and general voters, would be ensured on polling day.Nahid Islam, the 11-party alliance candidate for the Dhaka-11 constituency, made the remarks while speaking as chair at an election rally held on Sunday morning at the DIT Project playground in Badda, Dhaka.Describing the situation in the Badda and Bhatara areas of Dhaka-11, he said nearly 70 percent of the population there is engaged in the informal economy. Small traders, day labourers and working-class people form the majority, while despite an educated unemployment rate of 8 to 10 percent, there are no practical initiatives for job creation.
He said the absence of government hospitals has forced residents to rely entirely on private healthcare facilities, while a lack of adequate public educational institutions has similarly made the education system dependent on the private sector.
Referring to severe waterlogging during the monsoon, the NCP convener said that even light rainfall submerges nearly 60 percent of roads, and about 70 percent of the area lacks a planned drainage system, worsening public suffering year after year.
Identifying the core problem of Dhaka-11 as political, Nahid Islam said the biggest crisis in the area is land grabbing. He said hundreds of people’s lands, including state-owned land and public water bodies, have been illegally occupied, leaving countless families destitute.
He alleged that before August 5, the country’s two main political parties and their local leaders were directly involved in such land grabbing and shared the proceeds among themselves.
He said that although they appeared politically opposed, they remained united in business interests, with both parties benefiting financially from land grabbing before August 5.
He further alleged that a leader continued to receive shares of land-grabbing proceeds through real estate companies while living abroad for a long time, including from Malaysia.
He said that after August 5, the leader returned to the country and has been carrying out the same activities against the public by occupying the lands of previous grabbers.
Nahid Islam said February 12 presents an opportunity to defeat land grabbers, extortionists, criminals and loan defaulters.
He pledged to reduce economic inequality in the area and to take steps to return land to those who had lost it.
He added that the 11-party alliance is optimistic about victory not only in Dhaka-11 but across the country, saying the alliance aims to form the next government and provide leadership for Bangladesh.
The rally was conducted by Maulana Md Qutub Uddin, election director for Dhaka-11. Special guests included Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis Ameer Maulana Mamunul Haque, NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, and Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated former candidate and Islami Chhatra Shibir central president Atikur Rahman.
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman addressed the gathering as the chief guest.