The parliament chamber became heated for some time over the speech given by the ruling party's Kishoreganj-4 MP Fazlur Rahman in the National Parliament session. When the freedom fighter Fazlur Rahman was speaking, criticizing the opposition members and alleging personal attacks, there was a ruckus. The Speaker had to intervene repeatedly to control the situation and gave strict instructions to maintain parliamentary discipline.

The situation arose during the speech on Tuesday (April 28) in the National Parliament while participating in the discussion on the President's Motion of Thanks. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram presided over the session.

Outrage over allegations of personal attacks

At the beginning of his speech, Fazlur Rahman strongly protested the personal comments made against him. Expressing his anger, he said, “Didn’t we fight the Liberation War? As the opposition leader says, I don’t disrespect him, I always address him as ‘honorable’. But the people of his party are sitting here, they call me ‘Faja Pagla’. Are they civilized? Are they Islam? And the one he is talking about, he said that day that my beard is ripe, my eyes are ripe. He is 10 years younger than me. I am 78 years old. I was born in 48, he was born in 58.”

At this stage, the Speaker asked him, “Has anyone addressed you with such a statement? No one in Parliament has said such a thing.” In response, Fazlur Rahman said, “No.” The Speaker asked again, “Why are you dragging it on yourself?” Fazlur Rahman then insisted, “Yes.”

Liberation War and Jamaat Topic

When the Speaker allowed him to continue his speech, he made harsh comments regarding Jamaat-e-Islam and the Liberation War. Fazlur Rahman said, “Well, what I wanted to say is that the leader of the opposition party said that he is from a family of freedom fighters and he is from a family of martyrs and he is a member of Jamaat-e-Islam. This is a double crime. No one from a family of freedom fighters can join Jamaat. If a person from a family of martyrs joins Jamaat, he is committing a double crime.”

Immediately after his comment, there was a huge uproar and noise in the parliament. The speaker tried to calm the situation and said, “Let the honorable members speak. Honorable members, maintain order. Honorable members, maintain order in the parliament.”

Fazlur Rahman said again, “I have said it again, a person from a family of martyrs cannot join Jamaat. And if he joins Jamaat, he is committing a double crime.”

Seeing that the members of parliament were not stopping, the Speaker expressed his anger and said, “Honorable members, one second, one second. Honorable member Fazlur Rahman, sit down, sit down. Honorable members, I hope, sit down. Maintain the order of the parliament.”

Fazlur Rahman said, “I did not say anything bad to them.” The Speaker said again, “Sit down, Honorable member Fazlur Rahman, you wait a little. Honorable members, please sit down, please sit down. I say, please sit down.” Pointing to the behavior of the protesting members, Fazlur Rahman said, “Look at them, what kind of behavior they are doing today!”

The Speaker requested everyone to calm down and said, “Honorable members, try to listen to me with a little attention. Honorable member Gazi Islam, sit down. Honorable member Fazlur Rahman waits a little. Wait a little.” Then Fazlur Rahman counter-accused and said, “If they had found our leader Ziaur Rahman, they would have killed him before December 16.”

The Speaker then reminded the parliamentary etiquette and said, “Honorable Member Fazlur Rahman, wait. This is the National Parliament of Bangladesh. Everyone here has been elected. Please sit down. Honorable Leader of the Opposition, I will speak and then you speak. Honorable Members, the entire nation is watching, the live telecast is being broadcast. I say every day that you should read the ‘Rules of Procedure’ book. If this Parliament is not run according to the rules, it will no longer be a National Parliament.”

The Speaker said, “Everyone has freedom of speech. If you have any objection to the statement of any member of the government party, then you can refute the arguments against him. But even children will be ashamed of such behavior. After what Fazlur Rahman Sahib has said, I will give time to one of you. Mr. Member Fazlur Rahman, you finish your speech in three minutes.”

War criminals' condolence motion and indemnity issue

Fazlur Rahman resumed his speech and spoke about the war criminals' condolence motion and indemnity issue. He said, "December 14, 1971, is observed as Martyred Intellectuals' Day. Those who killed hundreds of intellectuals, starting with Munir Chowdhury, Abdul Alim Chowdhury, Shahidullah Kaiser, are called Al-Badr. I am very unfortunate, a motion has been made in this house - a condolence motion has been made in their regard as well. Even if I were alone, I would have protested it. History will send the wrong message if we do not pass a condolence motion in respect of war criminals. Another thing is the indemnity given to the police. The police stations that were looted and the police killed after August 5 were not fighting at that time, they were innocent. Where did all these weapons go? The incidents that took place after August 5 are not supposed to get indemnity under any law. There should be an investigation for that."

Warning to the Prime Minister

Finally, he expressed his loyalty to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House and issued a warning. He said, “The last thing is, my honorable Prime Minister, whom I respect very much. No matter how much intrigue there is inside the country, my leader, the Leader of the House, has done many great things. He has formed committees with equal shares. I will tell my leader, his mother has milked him together. But Sirajud