Staff Correspondent

The BNP has decided to mark its party foundation day on September 1st in a limited manner, shortening its previously announced programme due to the severe flooding affecting the country’s eastern region.

The party’s Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, made the announcement at a press conference at its chairperson’s Gulshan office on Wednesday.

He said their party’s standing committee meeting on Tuesday night voiced concern over the severe flood in the country’s eastern districts and decided to celebrate the founding anniversary programme on a limited scale.

Fakhrul stated that people in Cumilla, Feni, Noakhali, Laxmipur, and parts of Chattogram are enduring severe hardships due to the floods, which resulted from India opening the gates of its dams without prior warning.

“We’re providing aid to flood victims to the best of our ability. We’ve established a central relief cell… We’re distributing various items including rice, lentils, oil, medicines, clothes, and dry food. Our central leaders have been staying in the flood-affected areas for a few days to stand by the victims,” he said.

Besides, Fakhrul said one crore taka has been given to the BNP leaders and workers to carry out the relief activities in the flood-affected areas.

He said their party earlier announced a six-day programme to celebrate its founding anniversary on September 1.

“Our standing committee meeting decided to cancel the planned programmes. Instead, we will allocate the funds intended for these events to our party’s relief fund, which will be used to assist flood victims,” the BNP leader said.

He, however, said they would mark their founding anniversary with some traditional programmes like hoisting the party flag atop the Nayapaltan central office and all other offices of BNP across the country, offering Fateha, and placing wreaths at the grave of party founder Ziaur Rahman in the capital.

Fakhrul also mentioned that the party will organise a doa mahfil in the afternoon the same day to seek divine blessings for the flood-affected people and for those who were killed or injured in the recent student-led mass movement.

On September 1, 1978, Ziaur Rahman formed BNP with a 19-point programme to build a self-reliant Bangladesh. BNP ruled the country for several terms.