September 7, 2023
DHAKA – Awami League President Sheikh Hasina yesterday told her party leaders to spend at least half an hour on social media every day fighting anti-government propaganda.
She asked them to keep the coming election in mind and launch a fiery campaign on social media highlighting the multitude of achievements of the government as the opposition is out to spread lies.
“We made digital Bangladesh. Now, they are using it to spread propaganda,” the prime minister said when around 40 AL central committee members and top leaders of the party’s associate bodies met her at the Gono Bhaban.
“Activists and leaders of the Awami League and its associate bodies have defeated the anti-liberation force BNP-Jamaat on the streets…. Now, [we] have to be more active to win the war in cyberspace,” multiple attendees of the meeting quoted Hasina as saying.
The AL is lagging behind on social media, the AL chief said, adding that the opposition parties are now even more active on social media aftertheir failure on the streets.
Propaganda by the opposition should be prevented so that people do not get misled, she added.
“If you all become active on social media, it would be possible to prevent the spread of propaganda.”
The AL president then told her party-men to put in all-out efforts to be prepared for the 12th national polls, and asked them to address the rifts within the party.
Hasina acknowledged that there was discontent among the AL activists and reminded all to work as a unit for whoever gets nominated by the party in the election likely to be held in January next year.
She then told her party colleagues not to worry, saying that the BNP will not be able to topple the government because the AL has the people’s support.
“There is nothing to worry about. We are here and we will be here,” the premier said.
Besides, the AL chief asked her party-men to publicise BNP’s links to militancy and communal violence. Besides, the misrule, corruption, misdeeds, and criminal activities that took place when the BNP was in power should be talked about.
Referring to Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, she said he is a loan shark and a betrayer.
She added that even though Yunus received her help a lot, he tried to stop World Bank funding for Padma Bridge.
“Why should I spare him?” she asked.
Sheikh Hasina’s nephew and Centre for Research & Information (CRI) trustee Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby and Dhaka-17 constituency lawmaker Mohammad Ali Arafat also spoke at the meeting.
AL leaders Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Salim Mahmud and top leaders from the Jubo League, Swecchhashebak League, Chhatra League, Krishak League, Mahila Awami League, Mahila Sramik League and Jubo Mahila League were present there.