National Citizen Party south region chief organiser and lawmaker for Cumilla-4 constituency Hasnat Abdullah came under fire from activists of the July Movement and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party after visiting the house of former Chattogram city mayor M Manzur Alam on Tuesday.

Witnesses said that Hasnat visited Manzur at about 3:00pm amid speculations over Mazur’s possible participation in the Chattogram mayoral election as an NCP candidate.

The news quickly spread and July Movement and activists of the July Movement, along with students and the BNP gathered in front of Manzur’s house and began chanting slogans.

They asked Hasnat about the purpose of his visit and whether any meeting was being held at the house.

A video circulating on social media showed a young man asking Hasnat about the reason of his visit.

In the video, several individuals were seen demanding an explanation for Hasnat’s presence at Manzur’s house.

As the footage went viral, it triggered renewed political debate.

The video also shows Hasnat standing surrounded by several people in front of Manzur’s house. At one point, a person is heard asking him, ‘Why are you at the house of an Awami League associate? You are a July fighter and have spoken in the parliament about banning the Awami League. Why are you at the house of an Awami League associate?’

Hasnat is seen trying to calm the crowd. Later, another individual intervenes and asks the protesters to disperse.

As the situation became increasingly tense, Hasnat quickly left the spot.

Local Juba Dal leader Abkbar Sikder Bulbul said that they went in front of the house after hearing about the matter and asked Hasnat Abdullah why he went there.

Hasnat Abdullah told them that he had gone there to have tea, he said.

Akbar also said that in order to keep the situation calm and avoid any untoward incident, he was respectfully escorted Hasnat into a car.

NCP joint chief organiser Jubairul Hasan Arif said that the incident was not acceptable.

He said that people could visit somewhere on invitation and creating a mob during the rule of an elected government was shameful.

Akbar Shah police station officer-in-charge Mohammad Kamruzzaman said that the incident did not turn into any major untoward situation.

He said that although several people had gathered in front of the house and chanted slogans, the situation later returned to normalcy and no intervention by law enforcers was required.

Manzur Alam came into the spotlight in 2010 when he was elected mayor of Chattogram City Corporation with BNP support and later served as an adviser to the BNP chairperson.

In the 2018 national election, he sought Awami League nomination for a parliamentary constituency in Chattogram but was unsuccessful.

In the 2020 city corporation election, he also purchased nomination papers for the mayoral post from the Awami League, but the party did not nominate him.