Online Desk  :   Many people sacrificed their lives during the July-August mass uprising, not only to ensure a free and fair election or restore voting rights but also to eliminate fascism from the country. Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, adviser to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, said while talking to reporters at Baliadangi upazila auditorium in Thakurgaon on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Asif, also an adviser to the ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives, distributed warm clothes among the cold-hit poor people in the area.

“The mass upsurge took place with a one-point agenda to ensure the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s dictatorship and abolition of the fascism from the country,” said Asif who is also a key coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. He said all state organs have been driven toward fascism, leading to the destruction of the country’s financial institutions and emphasised the need for reforms to achieve the goals of the mass uprising. “Over 2,000 people sacrificed their lives and over 20,000 sustained injuries during the mass upsurge and this is not only because of the election or voting rights,” he said.    Earlier on Tuesday, while talking to reporters in the same area, said that the desperate moves of the country’s political parties over the next general election are the main barrier to the way of reforms.