CA violated the July Charter he signed himself: Salahuddin Ahmed

BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed has accused Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus of violating the July National Charter that he himself had signed earlier.

In his immediate reaction to the chief adviser's national address on Thursday, the BNP leader said, "The Chief Adviser himself signed the July Charter. In his speech, he violated the charter by including matters beyond the signed charter and adding new elements that were not mentioned in it."

"If we analyse his speech alongside the signed charter, we will see that he has grossly breached it." he added. Salahuddin Ahmed explained that there are significant inconsistencies and new proposals in the July National Charter (Reform of Constitution) Implementation Order, 2025, compared to the signed charter. "Many new points have been added, while several consensus-based clauses from the charter are missing. So, the very basis of the referendum has become questionable," he said.

According to the chief adviser's announcement, the referendum ballot will present a single, comprehensive question to voters, who must cast a "Yes" or "No" vote to express their opinion on four collective constitutional reform proposals derived from the charter.

Criticising this decision, Salahuddin said, "This is a leading question - people are being forced to either say 'Yes' to everything or 'No' to everything. They're even saying that the proportion of 'yes' votes will determine the number of seats in the upper house. "That's coercive. There's no option to vote 'yes' or 'no' separately on each issue."

The BNP leader warned that such steps could lead to division instead of unity. "Some may be happy with this, but are we heading towards disunity in the nation? Are we creating divisions instad of harmony? Will the Chief Adviser take responsibility for that?"