Staff Correspondent:

BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Sunday said the interim government should have presented an interim budget of its own nature without following the budget of the deposed Awami League regime.

“The budget of fascism nature did not need to be carried forward; the interim government should have given an interim budget,” said the BNP leader while speaking at a dialogue organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a hotel in the capital, marking the first anniversary of the interim government.

There has been a major shift in the mindset of the people of Bangladesh following the fall of the fascist regime, he said, adding that no political party or individual will survive if they fail to understand this change.

The BNP leader said many problems would be resolved naturally if the opportunity for open discussion continued.

He advised all to move away from confrontational political culture. “The practice of hurling insults in speeches must stop. Democracy means listening to and tolerating others’ opinions and respecting their views.”

Khosru went on to say, “Without a change in political culture, reforms are impossible. Countries that held elections quickly after a revolution did well; those that delayed faced increased internal conflicts.”

According to him, Bangladesh is moving towards a democratic process. “This is an interim government. Its primary responsibility is to restore democracy from the point where it was destroyed and to return ownership of the country to the people,” he said.

Khosru described efforts to reach a consensus as a positive step. “There will be different ideology, but everyone must come together. Any imposed change will not be sustainable,” he said, adding that economic improvement was a major challenge for the government.

Khosru noted that no investment came during the tenure of the interim government but added that it was not their fault. “Bangladesh ranks very low in investment. Without serious deregulation and serial liberalism, the economy will not progress,” he said.

“The government must leave many responsibilities to the private sector. It should hand over many activities to trade bodies to reduce its burden. Without reducing physical contracts, corruption cannot be curbed. The more regulations there are in the country, the more corruption will increase. The economy must be democratised with the participation of all,” Khosru added.