Bangladesh's Hasina govt is 'corrupt and undemocratic': Main opposition BNP

Dhaka: On the eve of Bangladesh's general election, the country's main opposition party's vice chairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government is neck deep in corruption.

"This government out and out from head to neck is corrupt. They have connections. This is not a democratic government. Development cannot be there without democracy. People's participation must be there," Roy from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) told PTI.

"In our politics why do I stress so much on economic conditions? Politics is a concentrated expression of the economy. If we fail to bring our economy in position, it will not do anything. We are going through a peaceful movement. We never believe in violence and destroying people's property," he said.

Bangladesh's main opposition party BNP led by former prime minister Khalida Zia is boycotting the January 7 election amid violence and has called for a 48-hour nationwide strike against the "illegal government".

The BNP is demanding an interim non-party neutral government to hold the election.

The demand was, however, rejected by the government headed by Hasina, who is also the chairman of the ruling Awami League.

Speaking on the arson attack on a train coming from Benapole, Roy Chowdhury said: "We are going through peaceful movement. We never believe in violence and destroying people's property." At least four people, including two children, were killed and many were injured in Dhaka on Friday in the incident meant to "sabotage" the elections by instilling a sense of fear in the voters.

Prime Minister Hasina is expected to win a fourth straight term in the absence of the main opposition party BNP in Sunday's election.

Bangladesh's increasingly polarised political culture has been dominated by a struggle between two powerful women, Hasina and Zia.

Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy but has a history of military coups and assassinations.

Zia, head of the BNP, is ailing and currently under house arrest. Her party says the charges were politically motivated, an allegation the government denied.

Tensions spiked since October when a massive anti-government rally demanding Hasina's resignation and a caretaker government to oversee the election turned violent. Hasina's administration said there was no constitutional provision to allow a caretaker government.

Critics have accused Hasina of systemically suffocating the opposition by implementing repressive security measures.

Zia's party claimed that more than 20,000 opposition supporters have been arrested, but the government said those figures were inflated and denied arrests were made due to political leanings.

The country's attorney general put the figure between 2,000-3,000 while the country's law minister said the numbers were about 10,000.