Hasnat Abdullah calls BCB a ‘board of father’s blessings’, alleges politicisation of state entities

Accusing the BNP government of politicising state institutions, NCP MP Abul Hasnat, well-known as Hasnat Abdullah said the Bangladesh Cricket Board has lost its integrity.

“The BCB is no longer a cricket board. It has become a cricket board of a father’s blessings,” he told the parliament on Wednesday while objecting to the “July Mass Uprising (Protection and Liability Determination) Bill, 2026”.

After the lunch break, when the parliament session resumed at 3:30pm, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed tabled the bill, but it immediately drew an objection from Hasnat.

The objection, however, was rejected by voice vote.

In a dramatic turn of events, Tamim Iqbal took the helm of the BCB on Tuesday, replacing Aminul Islam Bulbul.

But the first Test centurion of Bangladesh still claimed to be the board’s “only legitimate leader”.

He termed the dissolution of the elected board and the formation of an ad-hoc committee under Tamim “a constitutional coup”.

Hasnat said, “In the bill, the term ‘commission’ refers to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Again, the definition of subsection ‘D’ of Section 2 explains ‘criminal abuse’ during a chaotic situation.”

In his opinion, killings committed for narrow and personal interests instead of political resistance will be viewed one way in the bill, and activities carried out to restore the democratic system will be viewed another way.

Hasnat questioned, “Who will determine what constitutes killings committed for narrow and personal interests?”

He said, “According to this proposed law, the NHRC will define it. This means ‘indemnity’ will depend on the commission.”

Hasnat fears the NHRC will be “completely controlled by the government” if run according to the National Human Rights Commission Act 2009.

Alleging that the Commission had been used in the past to “suppress opposition parties and opinions” and for “victim blaming”, he said it also used in “legitimising enforced disappearances and murders.”

The Cumilla-4 MP demanded that the NHRC be not placed under the home ministry, before alleging politicisation of state-run organisations including the judiciary and the central bank.

The home minister said the bill aims to provide legal and constitutional protection to those who participated in the July Uprising.

“It was a ‘demand of the July fighters’ and later became a ‘national demand’. And there is a commitment in the July National Charter for this too,” he said.

Referring to Hasnat’s BCB remarks, the minister said the allegation was not relevant during the discussion of the bill.

Salahuddin, nevertheless, argued the former sports advisor of the interim government “exercised his power and unilaterally formed the board by influencing the district committees and councillors of registered clubs”.