Hasina`s speech can`t be blocked: Rumeen Farhana

Barrister Rumeen Farhana, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker for Brahmanbaria-2, on Wednesday criticised the government's prohibition on broadcasting Sheikh Hasina's statements, arguing that in an age when virtually every citizen wields a media device, no administrative directive can truly silence a political figure's voice.

Speaking to reporters after a July Uprising Day-2026 reception and discussion organised by the Sarail upazila administration in Brahmanbaria, Farhana contended that media can no longer be defined solely by television channels, since social platforms and digital tools have fundamentally reshaped the flow of information. Drawing a parallel to the Awami League government's earlier court-ordered ban on broadcasting the speeches of then BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, she questioned how a similar restriction imposed today could be reconciled with democratic principles if the earlier measure had itself been widely condemned as undemocratic.

Asked about the prospect of Sheikh Hasina's eventual return to Bangladesh, Farhana offered a personal assessment, noting the former premier's lengthy political lineage, her family's historical role in the nation's politics, and the unresolved question of Awami League's future leadership, before venturing that Hasina would likely return home at some point, absent which the party's succession and her own political legacy would face fresh uncertainty. Turning to the recent clash between Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir activists, she described the violence as a stark reflection of the country's fragile law-and-order situation and evidence of political parties' waning grip over their own student wings, warning that such episodes risked reviving old, destructive patterns inimical to Bangladesh's democratic climate.

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The event, presided over by Sarail Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md. Saiful Islam, honoured the families of those killed or injured in last year's July uprising and drew local Jamaat-e-Islami leader Enam Khan, health officer Dr. Mohammad Nizam Uddin, and police official Manzur Kader Bhuiyan, among other dignitaries. Asked about the local BNP unit's boycott of the programme over her appointment as chief guest, Farhana maintained that her electoral mandate from voters was a reality all parties, including her own, must accept, adding pointedly that the people's verdict could not be disregarded.