[Inaugural Ceremony of 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Unofficial translation)] Comrade President Central committee leaders Respected comrades from fraternal parties Distinguished guests Esteemed party veterans Delegates and observer comrades journalist and friends in media Dear comrades, brothers and sisters, I welcome you all to the inaugural session of the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Bangladesh. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Party, I thank you all and greet you with a Red Salute! From the rostrum of this congress I express revolutionary greetings to the workers, peasants, agricultural workers, toiling masses and the people of Bangladesh. Fighting against all types of misery and adverse condition, they have made the existence of our country possible by their hard labor, innovation and dedication. They have made it possible to somehow keep moving the wheel of the society and economy. On behalf of this great event, I express my heartiest and fraternal greetings to the people all over the world, who are fighting against the imperialism-exploitation-deprivation-oppression and for peace-freedom-democracy and progress. From the rostrum of the historical 11th Congress of the Party, we remember with deep respect those comrades and friends of this country as well as of all the countries of the world, who have left us after having spent their lives with great contribution for peace, prosperity, democracy, fraternity, justice, progress and emancipation of mankind. Remembering all deceased comrades, companion and friends, we are announcing with determination- we not let your struggle, dedication and sacrifice go in vein. Comrades and Friends, We have gathered in this great occasion today with the demand of food, cloth, job opportunity and land for peasant and to establish socialism in our society. At the same time in this eleventh congress, we have gathered here with the determination to fight against communalism, religious fascism, imperialism, corruption and to establish democracy. I am declaring in front of you that the eleventh party congress will provide specific directions for the current fight and will be a big step towards the revolutionary democratic change to achieve socialism. Comrades and friends, according our government, flood of development is flowing all over the country and to continue the so called flow of development, the practice of democracy should be limited. Therefore, we have experienced with farce in name of election. There is terrorism and culture of the grabbing under state and party shelter. But mass people are not allowed to protest for the sake of development. I would like to say very clearly in front of you that The Communist Party of Bangladesh would not accept any excuse to avoid or limit democracy. Democracy is one of the pillars of our liberation war. Secondly, the story of development which we listen is not truth. Few people those are surrounded by the ruling class are beneficial for this so called based project plunders development. But the workers of our country get the lowest wage compare to all other countries. Peasants don’t get return as much as they invest for cultivation. About hundred thousand people tried to migrant illegally by boat for work opportunity. In the long run, they were buried in the jungles of Thailand. We do not call this as development that is unable to satisfy the basic needs of the workers and peasants of our country. Comrades, friends, sisters and brothers, we find the worst example of capitalism in our country. On the one hand, there is exploitation; on the other hand there are corruption and money laundering in abroad. The situation of investment in our country is very poor. As a result, there is not proper opportunity of employment. As a result of market economy, education, health and even drinking water have become the object of buying and selling product. Government’s economical policy betrays with

socialism that was a fundamental spirit of our liberation war. There are local exploiters. There are also foreign exploiters those who created devastating situation and committed genocide in Middle East. They are also active to plunder the natural resources of our country. We are also considering aggressive policy of our neighbor country India. We remember with gratitude the contribution of government and people of India during our liberation war. But in recent time, India is depriving Bangladesh from her legal right of water in Ganges, Teesta and some other rivers by building barrages over the flowing path of those rivers. Almost every day peoples are killed in border by Indian border security force. Our party has been raising voice against all these aggressive policies. Our government is sacrificing our national interest towards the interest of state India. Both Bangladesh and Indian government are planning to build Rampal power station from coal energy near Sundarbans that is the largest mangrove forest in this planet. If the power plant starts functioning there, Sundarbans will be destroyed that is income source of millions of people and that protects a large portion of our country from natural calamity. Our party will engage full strength to resist the establishment of this power plant near Sundarbans. Though, the present government formed war crime tribunal and forced the war criminals to face trial, they are patronizing communal ideology in this society. Supporting the state religion policy is an example of this policy. Comrades, the other political party that formed government previously and now looking for opportunity to form government, also follows the same policy of market economy and was involved in corruption and occupation. In addition, they became unified with Jamaat-i-Islam that is a religious fundamentalist political party and was active against our liberation war. Comrades, let us reject both major bourgeois parties. Let us build a democratic alternative of left force. That alternative would be in favor of the interests of workers, peasants and middle class for alternative political and economical system. Communist party of Bangladesh that bears heritage of huge struggle and that is one of the age old parties in Bangladesh appealing to build up a political alternative in this crisis period. Comrades, let us gather under the red flag to make the alternative realistic and strengthen the fight towards socialism. Let the working class be victorious. Workers of the world, unite!