Nahid Islam, opposition Chief Whip and convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), said on Saturday that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman must now decide the manner in which he steps down from power, under pressure or through a dignified process.

"Tarique Rahman has to decide now whether he will flee by helicopter or hand over power through a dignified process," Nahid Islam said while addressing the inaugural rally of the 11-party alliance's Dhaka-to-Rangpur long march at the capital's Manik Mia Avenue.

He alleged that the BNP, since coming to power, has been curbing people's rights and undermining democracy, warning that those who have destroyed democracy in the past have ultimately ended up in "the dustbin of history."

Nahid said the government passed an enforced disappearance law and a human rights law in the last parliamentary session, and that RAB had been renamed SRB.

While protecting human rights is the government's responsibility, he alleged the current administration is instead creating conditions conducive to rights violations across the board.

He further alleged that the incumbent government has begun using the same laws and institutions that Sheikh Hasina's administration had used to suppress people's rights.

Noting that a wave of public support has built up behind the long march, Nahid Islam alleged that banners and festoons of the 11-party alliance have been torn down along the march route since Friday night, claiming BNP leaders and activists carried this out with the involvement of the city corporation.

Tearing down banners and festoons will not stop the tide of public support for the long march, he said, adding that the opposition's list of demands keeps growing but will ultimately converge into a single demand, called on 11-party alliance leaders and activists to prepare accordingly.