BNP’s 46th founding anniv today

The BNP is set to celebrate its 46th founding anniversary across the country today with limited programmes.
While the party is in high spirits this year, buoyed by the decline of its longtime rival, the Awami League, after nearly 16 years in power, the BNP has chosen to mark its founding anniversary in a restrained manner.
The party has shortened its previously announced elaborate programmes due to the severe flooding affecting the country’s eastern region.
On September 1, 1978, the late President Ziaur Rahman founded the party with a 19-point programme aimed at building a self-reliant Bangladesh.
Under the revised programme, the BNP will observe the day with traditional activities, including hoisting the party flag at the Nayapaltan central office and all BNP offices nationwide this morning. The observance will also feature offering Fateha and placing wreaths at the grave of the party’s founder, Ziaur Rahman, in the capital today.
BNP leaders and activists, led by the party’s Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, will place wreaths and offer munajat (special prayers) at Ziaur Rahman’s grave at 11:00am.
In addition, the BNP will hold a doa mahfil at its Nayapaltan central office this afternoon. The programme will seek divine blessings for those affected by the floods, for those killed and injured in the recent student-led mass movement, and for the swift recovery of Khaleda Zia, the widow of Ziaur Rahman.
At a recent meeting, the BNP’s standing committee cancelled the five-day programmes and allocated the funds intended for these events to the party’s relief fund, which will be used to assist flood victims.
BNP’s associate bodies and all their units across the country will mark the day with due respect by holding doa mahfils, discussions, and distributing relief in flood-hit areas.
In its 45-year journey, the BNP has held power several times and served on the opposition bench twice. However, the party has been out of power for nearly 18 years since the 1/11 political changeover.  BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in separate messages, congratulated the people of the country, as well as the party’s leaders, activists, and well-wishers, on this occasion.