Cox’s Bazar, Feb 7 (V7N) — Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member and the party’s nominated candidate for Cox’s Bazar-1 (Chakaria–Pekua) constituency, Salahuddin Ahmed, said the BNP has never practiced divisive politics based on religion or ethnicity.

He made the remarks on Friday morning while addressing an exchange meeting with members of the Christian community in the Malumghat area of Dulahazara Union under Chakaria upazila in Cox’s Bazar.

Salahuddin Ahmed said that although people may follow different religions, including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, their identity as Bangladeshis is the same. He emphasized that ensuring equal rights, dignity, and opportunities for followers of all religions remains a core principle of BNP politics.

The senior BNP leader reiterated that the party does not believe in dividing people on the basis of caste, creed, or faith and remains committed to building a democratic state where all citizens enjoy equal respect and opportunities.

Referring to past incidents, Salahuddin Ahmed said that those responsible for attacks on Christian neighborhoods and places of worship in 1992 had created religious violence in the country, warning that a return of such forces to power could once again raise the risk of communal unrest.

Highlighting the BNP’s future plans in education and employment, he said that if a BNP government is formed under the leadership of Tarique Rahman, technical and vocational education would be made compulsory up to the higher secondary level. He added that such initiatives would help transform the country’s population, particularly the youth, into skilled and employment-oriented human resources.

He also stressed the importance of language education, saying that to compete at the international level, future generations must be proficient not only in Bangla and English but also in one or two additional foreign languages.

At the end of the meeting, Salahuddin Ahmed called upon leaders of the Christian community and local residents to support the BNP by casting their votes for the party’s symbol, the sheaf of paddy, in the upcoming national parliamentary election scheduled for February 12.

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