BNP Declares Jamaat Candidate Amir Hamza Unwelcome in Jhenaidah

District Correspondent

Jamaat leader and Jamaat-Islam’s nominated candidate for Kushtia-3 constituency Amir Hamza has been declared undesirable in Jhenaidah. Jhenaidah district BNP organizing secretary Sajedur Rahman Poppu declared him undesirable.

Jamaat leader Amir Hamza was declared persona non grata for making derogatory comments about Arafat Rahman Koko, the youngest son of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.

BNP leader Poppu made this announcement through a status on his Facebook on Friday, January 16th, at around 8 pm.

He wrote in his status, ‘Amir Hamza has been declared undesirable in Jhenaidah until he retracts his distorted statement.’

The post went viral instantly. BNP leaders and activists from various levels expressed their support in the comments of the post.

Poppu said, “Arafat Rahman Koko is the son of President Ziaur Rahman and three-time Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Islam never supports such distorted and ugly comments about a dead person. He will not be allowed to enter Jhenaidah until he retracts his statement.”

It is worth mentioning that during the Waz Mahfil season, Amir Hamza participated as a keynote speaker in numerous Mahfils in 6 upazilas of Jhenaidah and various unions of the district in exchange for huge money. In one Mahfil, he distorted the name of Arafat Rahman Koko and compared it to the name of an animal. The Kushtia District BNP has condemned and protested against this incident.

However, Amir Hamza claimed that the speech in question was from 2023. He expressed regret about this in a video message posted on Facebook.

After the video went viral on Friday, leaders and activists of BNP and its affiliates expressed anger. Kushtia District Volunteer Party President Abdul Hakim Masud gave Amir Hamza an ultimatum to declare him undesirable if he did not publicly apologize for the comment.

In a written protest that night, Kushtia district BNP convener Qutub Uddin Ahmed said, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Amir Hamza-Arafat Rahman distorted the name of Coco and compared it to a wild animal. The use of such indecent and unwise language is not expected from an Islamic speaker. His statement is provocative and conspiratorial, which amounts to disrupting the atmosphere of the upcoming elections.

On the other hand, in a video message posted on Facebook expressing regret, Amir Hamza said, “The speech given about Koko Saheb was from 2023. At that time, I expressed regret for making a mistake by giving an example while explaining a point. Now I express my regret again.”

Claiming that the speech was cut and spread, Amir Hamza also said that there is a conspiracy to bring up old speeches and pass them off as election-time speeches.

Zakir Hossain, BNP candidate for Kushtia-3 (Sadar) constituency, said that the district BNP has condemned and protested the incident. At the same time, the attention of the relevant authorities including the Election Commission has been drawn.