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protests, the party claimed the leader’s account had been hacked, but experts had rejected the claim. “They are lying,” he said.

“If a party wants to confine half of the population before an election and speaks about women in such a disrespectful way, then you must ask yourselves: if they somehow come to power, what will their behaviour be like after the election?” he said.

Speaking at a rally at Prabhati School ground in Khalishpur, he addressed women voters directly. “The time has come for the mothers and sisters of Bangladesh to decide how they will respond to those who have insulted them,” he said.

Calling for public vigilance, Tarique said those who lie to the nation, change their positions repeatedly, and insult half of the population must be resisted.

“They only care about their own interests and use religion wherever it suits them,” he said, adding that the country cannot develop if half of its population is left behind.

He said the party had shown its true colours during the 1971 Liberation War. “This party’s predecessors violated the dignity of lakhs of our mothers and sisters. Those who have no respect for human dignity cannot be trusted with the safety of the country,” he said.

He also claimed that conspirators were hatching plots from different places and urged voters to choose between right and wrong on election day.

“The people of Bangladesh have never made mistakes. They have always stood by those who love the country,” he said, questioning how a party could establish the “rule of honest people” while resorting to what he described as dishonest tactics such as buying votes through bKash.

Speaking in Jashore, Tarique said that if voted to power, the BNP would reopen the Ganges-Kobadak Irrigation Project, take initiatives to export local flowers abroad, and revive closed sugar mills.

[Our Khulna and Benapole correspondents contributed to this report]