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Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said Bangladesh has become a role model for development and its advancement will be continued, facing all odds.
"The advancement of Bangladesh will continue by throwing ash to the faces of enemies," she told the AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) meeting at her official Ganabhaban residence this evening, reports BSS.
The premier said Bangladesh has made visible advancement in all sectors including education, health and agriculture. "Now no sector of the country is lagging behind," she said.
The mother-and-child mortality rate has declined, medicare services have reached grassroots, literacy rate has increased, and economic growth and per capita income have also increased.
Sheikh Hasina said the country was able to maintain its economic growth in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions, and countersanctions due to timely measures taken by her government.
Bangladesh, she said, has achieved the status of a developing country under the leadership of the AL. Bangladesh will start its journey formally as a developing country from 2026, she added.
"If Awami League remains in power, the transition from Least Developed Country to a developing nation will happen," she said, adding that people are the only strength of the Awami League.
"People have kept faith on us as they voted AL to power in the January 7, 2024 election," she said.
The premier said it is very unfortunate to take lesson of democracy and voting rights from the BNP, which had initiated the vote rigging and ruining the country's democracy.
The AL is the party which had struggled for a long for establishing democracy and voting rights in the country, and many leaders and activists of the party had sacrificed their lives, she said.
Bangladesh, she said, has now been considered a role model for development around the globe due to the massive development made during the AL regime.
The prime minister castigated the so-called politicians and intellectuals for spreading propaganda against the country's prosperity and progress.
AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Presidium Members -- Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Deputy Leader of the House Begum Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Kazi Zafarullah -- and senior member Abul Hasanat Abdullah, were present on the dias.
Sheikh Hasina said they have built the Padma Bridge with own finance confronting all the challenges which proved that Bangladesh can do.
"We have earned Tk 150 billion (15,000 crore) as revenue from the Padma Bridge near one year of opening the Padma Bridge," she said.
The premier said all the advancements had been halted after the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975.
Upon coming to power after 21 years, the AL started working to change the fate of the people and meet their basic needs.
"We have given priority to the grassroots people for ensuring the overall development of the country," she said.
While the BNP, she said, had introduced the culture of terrorism, militancy, and corruption in the country.
The premier heavily criticised the action against agitated students and teachers in the United States as they protested the atrocities committed in Gaza of Palestine by Israel. She described the action as a "gross violation of humanity.".
"What will they say now to those who are trying to find out about humanity in Bangladesh? I want the answer," she said.
The premier also denounced the killing of two Bangladeshis in the USA. "We are protesting the killing of our two Bangalees (by the security personnel in the USA)," she added.