|| MM Erhamatullah: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami staged a protest rally and demonstration in the capital, describing the proposed Tk 938,000 crore national budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year as an “anti-people and plunder-oriented budget.”The demonstration was held on Thursday (June 11) immediately after the budget was presented in Parliament. Following a rally at the north gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, protesters brought out a procession that marched through Paltan intersection and the Bijoynagar area.Addressing the rally as chief guest, Dr. AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad, Assistant Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former Member of Parliament, said, “The government has presented a budget designed to maintain party cadres by imposing an additional tax burden on the people.” He alleged that the budget failed to reflect the aspirations of a “new Bangladesh” in the post-July period and instead continued the old system.He claimed that the proposed budget is excessively dependent on borrowing and places a greater tax burden on citizens. He also expressed concern that a large portion of development allocations could be misused through corruption and looting by ruling party activists. According to him, the budget has become pro-rich because its architects represent affluent sections of society.Dr. Azad noted that the government has set a revenue collection target of Tk 695,000 crore, of which the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is expected to collect Tk 604,000 crore. He warned that the pressure to achieve this target would increase the cost of living for ordinary and middle-income people.He further stated that the budget projects a deficit of Tk 243,000 crore, with plans to borrow Tk 112,000 crore from the banking sector to finance it. Such borrowing, he argued, could reduce credit flow to the private sector, thereby hampering investment and employment generation.Speaking as a special guest, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Advocate Moazzem Hossain Helal said that despite its large size, the budget is not people-friendly but rather serves partisan interests. He claimed that it would mainly benefit party-affiliated business groups and other privileged beneficiaries.The rally was presided over by Advocate Dr. Helal Uddin, a member of Jamaat’s Central Executive Council and Nayeb-e-Ameer of Dhaka Metropolitan South. He said the government had presented a conventional budget instead of one that would help build the “new Bangladesh” expected by the people. He also argued that the budget would place additional pressure on ordinary citizens.The event was moderated by Muhammad Delawar Hossain, Assistant Secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan South and a member of the party’s Central Executive Council. Other speakers included Central Majlis-e-Shura member Dr. Abdul Mannan, Muhammad Shamsur Rahman, and several other party leaders.The speakers demanded that the proposed budget be revised and replaced with a people-oriented one. Participants in the subsequent procession also chanted slogans in support of the same demand.