| Bangladesh parliament, lit. National Assembly |
Taking part in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on the president's address, BNP politician Rehana Akhtar Ranu used words in bad taste to attack the prime minister, home minister, state minister for law, a former chief justice and an incumbent High Court judge.
Her remarks sparked uproar in the House as treasury bench MPs instantly protested. Without microphone, Awami League MP Fazilatunnesa Bappy was heard shouting, "Shut up... or I will slap you". Her words almost triggered a scuffle between her and BNP MP Shammi Akhtar.
Thanks to the timely intervention of women chamber attendants and some ruling and opposition MPs, an embarrassing situation was averted in the House.
Having stayed away from parliamentary proceedings for 83 consecutive sittings since March last year, opposition leader
Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
returned to the House yesterday afternoon along with her politicians.
Sources said the opposition MPs were earlier asked by Khaleda to play a "constructive" role in the House and not use indecent words in their speeches.
Earlier in the day, the BNP chief held a brief meeting with opposition MPs and advised them to strongly criticise the "poor performance" of ministers and protest the government's various "wrongdoings".
"Do not remain silent. You will counter, not using abusive words, rather in a constructive way," BNP MP Nazim Uddin Ahmed quoted the BNP chief as saying.