Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that, in his experience over five months as a minister, nothing has changed in the country and people who took bribes continue to do so. Speaking as chief guest at a discussion meeting at the DFP auditorium in the Circuit House in the capital on Thursday, he called for change in the state and society in line with the spirit of July.

Fakhrul, also BNP secretary general, described change as a scientific and ongoing process, while saying that achieving it through movements and war under rules is different. He said Bangladesh gained independence through war in 1971 but has continued to call for change since then. He compared Bangladesh's position with the economic progress and livelihoods of China and Singapore.

He said lives have repeatedly been lost whenever change was demanded, and that young people joined the July 2024 movement, initially over their own demands before it developed into a demand for a change of government. He said the sacrifices made for change must be upheld, or the tears of mothers and bloodshed of July martyrs would be lost. Representatives of media, judicial and professional bodies also spoke at the event.