Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairman Tarique Rahman on Sunday alleged that a group was attempting to mislead the public in the name of religion and was hatching various conspiracies.

He urged voters to remain vigilant ahead of the election, saying that members of this group had been caught forging official seals and collecting National Identity Card and mobile financial service numbers of women to deceive them.

Hinting at Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Tarique further said that there were multiple instances of this group abandoning the public.

He said that during the movement of the 1990s to overthrow the regime of HM Ershad, an army general turned politician, Jamaat had dumped people and participated in elections alongside the autocrat of the time.

Tarique’s remarks came at an election rally in Dhaka-14 held at the National Bangla High School at Mirpur.

At a separate rally at Pallabi Lalmath in Mirpur under the Dhaka-16 constituency, he said that if voted to power, his party would place the highest possible emphasis on ensuring people’s security and combating corruption at all costs.

On the same day, the BNP chairman also addressed four other rallies at ECB Chattar in Mirpur under Dhaka-17 constituency, at Adarsha High School in Mirpur-10 under Dhaka-15, at Shyamoli Club ground in Dhaka-13, and at Badda in Dhaka-11 constituency.

At the rallies, Tarique sought votes for the sheaf of paddy, the election symbol of his party, emphasising the BNP’s vision to rebuild the nation.

At the Pallabi rally, Tarique told supporters that citizens, particularly women, must be able to move freely on the streets at any time of the day without fear.

Public safety, he said, should extend beyond daily movement to economic life, allowing people to do trade and work and conduct business in a safe environment.

‘To that end, restoring law and order across the country, including Dhaka, is one of the BNP’s core priorities,’ Tarique said, emphasising the need for comprehensive improvement in the national security situation.

Tarique also highlighted large-scale corruption during the previous authoritarian period, alleging that around $16 billion was siphoned out of the country each year in the name of development.

He argued that no development plan, however well designed, could improve citizen life unless corruption was firmly curbed.

‘We have seen how corruption drains the country,’ he said, adding that without tackling it, the benefits of any policy would fail to reach ordinary households.

Tarique further said that the BNP had taken a firm decision to enforce both rule of law and anti-corruption measures so that the outcomes of development plans reach the public.

Calling for a nationwide effort to rebuild the country, he stated that years of authoritarian rule had pushed the country far behind many of its global peers and wasted valuable time.

At ECB Chattar Tarique pledged to transform Dhaka into a safe city and build at least 40 playgrounds across the capital if voted to power.

At the rally in Dhaka-14, Tarique outlined his party’s key election priorities, including making the country economically self-reliant, undertaking skills training programmes for youths, recruiting one lakh of healthcare workers to ensure nationwide services, and building a hospital in Dhaka-14.

He said that religious leaders, including imams and muezzins, would also receive support, and a bridge over the Turag River would be built soon as possible, if the BNP was elected.

Tarique further vowed to honour the vision of the martyrs of 1971 War of Independence and the 2024 July uprising in building the nation.

He also said that his government, if elected, would provide aspiring migrants from both urban and rural areas with low-interest loans on easier conditions to secure overseas employment, easing their financial burden to go abroad by selling land or other assets.

In Dhaka-15, the BNP chairman said that the coming February 12 election should be one for rebuilding the country and for transforming people’s lives.

He also outlined a series of development plans, including initiatives to empower women, strengthen the economic backbone of farmers, improve healthcare services, and create employment opportunities for young men and women.