Explosive comments of former army officer on the resignation of Hills Minister Deepen Dewan

Alamgir Manik

A new political controversy has arisen over the resignation of Deepen Dewan, the minister in charge of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry (who resigned on Tuesday). In this incident, Manish Dewan, the co-editor of tribal affairs of the central BNP and a former officer of the Bangladesh Army, made an explosive claim in a statement given on social media.

In a status posted on his Facebook account on Tuesday morning, he alleged that Deepen Dewan had to resign due to disagreements over the nomination recommendation for the post of chairman of Rangamati Zilla Parishad.

Manish Dewan claims that he himself was recommended for nomination for the upcoming post of Rangamati Zilla Parishad Chairman and Deepen Dewan recommended his name. He said that as a valiant freedom fighter, he was involved in hoisting the flag of independent Bangladesh at Rangamati on December 17, 1971 and has been working in political and social activities for a long time as the co-editor of tribal affairs of central BNP.

On the other hand, according to his complaint, Minister of State in-charge of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry Mir Helal wanted Rangamati district BNP president Deepen Talukder Deepu to be the chairman of the district council. He claimed that a disagreement arose between the two parties over the nomination of the post of chairman and ultimately that dispute led to Deepen Dewan’s resignation.

In the status, Manish Dewan wrote, “In this war of mere recommendation, our full minister, the beloved leader of Pahari-Bengali, a representative elected by the highest votes has lost. Even his resignation has been demanded from him against his will.”

Soon after his statement was published on social media, it created a lot of discussion. The status went viral in no time. It was widely shared by grassroots activists of BNP in hilly areas as well as social media pages of various regional organizations. Many responded by citing various arguments in favor of Deepen Dewan.Meanwhile, a wide discussion has started in the local political arena around this important incident of hill politics. According to political analysts, the controversy surrounding the Rangamati Zilla Parishad leadership election could have a significant impact on the political equation of the hill region in the days to come.

However, there was no immediate official statement from the concerned regarding the allegations raised by Manish Dewan. As a result, there are many questions and speculations in the political arena about the matter.The fantasy continues.