Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Thursday stressed collective efforts to build a happy, prosperous and discrimination-free Bangladesh, urging everyone to come forward from their respective positions and work together to this end.

“The current fight is a major one. If we want to survive in the current age and build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh in the future, we all must remain united. We must work unitedly, and everyone must come forward together,” he said.

The prime minister made the call at a meeting with representatives of ethnic minority communities at the Public Administration conference room in the Bangladesh Secretariat this afternoon, said PM’s Deputy Press Secretary Sujon Mahmud.

Sujon said that the minority community leaders presented their various problems to the prime minister, while the PM attentively listened to their issues.

Describing the ethnic minorities as an inseparable part of the country, the prime minister said his government is working to build a country where there will be no discrimination against any race or community.

Tarique Rahman said that he wants to move forward by taking everyone on board to build a desired Bangladesh for all.

The ethnic minority representatives placed several demands, including the formation of a land commission to resolve land ownership issues for ethnic minorities in the plains, organising a national convention for ethnic minorities and backward communities and providing a clan-based identity instead of terming them ‘ethnic minority’.

They also demanded the establishment of a central cultural centre and the provision of loan facilities for ethnic minorities.

Responding to them, the prime minister said, “We’re going through a terrible situation. The fascist government has destroyed all the institutions and the economy of the country. Sixteen billion dollars were laundered every year. If money hadn’t been laundered like this, many of your problems would have been solved.”

The government is trying to solve the issues in phases, with prioritising those solvable immediately, he added.

Referring to the prevailing problems in the country, the premier said, “I’m still astonished to see so many problems existing in the country which should have been addressed over the last 17 years. If those problems had been addressed during that time, many problems wouldn’t have existed.”

“We used to hear so many stories of development before, but where are they actually? Now all the pressure has fallen upon our government,” he said, adding, “The public expectations from this government are very high. But we’re trying to overcome that situation and turn things around.”

Noting that the fascist government destroyed the country’s education and health system, Tarique Rahman highlighted his government’s initiatives to overcome this situation and get the system back on track.

The prime minister said, “They (Awami League government) have destroyed an entire generation. The journey of the Upazila Health Complex was started by the former President Ziaur Rahman. 31-bed hospitals were established during his time.”

“After that, whenever our government came to power, the hospitals were developed. When Begum Khaleda Zia came to power, the hospitals were upgraded to 50 beds. Now, we’ve decided to upgrade those to 101 beds,” he said.

The PM added, “Yet, the previous government established union-based community health centres, but those have no operational activities.”

The Prime Minister also spoke about increasing the budget allocation for the health sector in the 2026-27 fiscal year, as well as reducing the taxes on emergency medical equipment, including kidney dialysis kits and heart stents.