BNP MP Harun walks out of parliament

Bangladesh Nationalist Party MP Harunur Rashid has walked out from the ongoing budget session of the parliament.

On Tuesday, he staged the walk out protesting the deputy Speakers’ veto on mentioning names of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her son Tareque Rahman in the parliament.

The Chapainawabganj-3 was given 12 minutes to speak over the national budget for the 2020-21 financial year.

Towards the end of his speech, the BNP MP proposed forging national unity to save the people instead of thinking about the development of the country.

He also demanded the withdrawal of false cases against thousands of party leaders and workers, including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, which triggered a commotion among the ruling Awami League MPs. Meanwhile, his allotted time ran out, but he continued his speech and asked the deputy speaker to give him additional time.

However, on being denied, Harun was getting ready to stage a walkout. But Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi asked him to be seated and listen to him.

The chair then said, ‘You spoke about national unity, which is a splendid proposal. But you have mentioned two persons whose name I would not pronounce sitting in this chair. An elected government cannot forge unity with a convicted individual.’

The deputy speaker added that the BNP leader had uttered ‘some words inappropriate for the parliament’ and he would expunge them from the record.

Then, MP Harun was allowed to speak for an extra minute following consultation with the Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina.

But Harun then told the chair, “You didn’t extend my time when I asked. You gave me one additional minute after Honourable Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina told you to.”

“I will not speak anymore. You have interrupted my speech and I am walking out of the parliament in protest,” he said.

But the deputy speaker said, “My words will suffice to answer his (Harun’s) questions. If inappropriate speech is uttered in parliament, I will definitely intervene; it doesn’t matter if that person is from the ruling party or the opposition party.”

Dhaka/Asad/AKA