Jamaat Ameer gifts 10-kg mangoes to MPs, fourth-grade staffers at Parliament

Opposition Leader and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman offered a surprise at the National Parliament on Monday as he provided 10-kilogram mangoes as gifts to everyone from lawmakers to fourth-grade employees.

The equitable distribution was the prime focus of the surprise gift. Traditionally lawmakers and influential leaders get gifts at the Parliament, while the low-grade workers miss out.

But, Shafiqur changed the narrative and tradition by gifting the same package of premium mangoes that the lawmakers received to sweepers, peons, liftmen and vehicle drivers.

Receiving the gift, an office assistant at the Parliament Secretariat said, “We are just junior employees; we usually only see gifts meant for senior leaders from a distance. Today, the Leader of the Opposition personally remembered us and sent this 10-kilogram gift package. It is a great honour for us.

In Bangladesh’s familiar political culture, where the ice between the government and opposition parties does not melt easily, many lawmakers from the ruling party have also welcomed Shafiqur Rahman’s initiative.

A ruling-party member of parliament, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Politics will continue on the field, but this kind of courtesy inside parliament is truly commendable. The way Shafiqur Rahman recognized employees at all levels will remain a positive example.”

Officials of the Parliament Secretariat said that since assuming office as Leader of the Opposition, Shafiqur Rahman has been taking various unconventional and humane initiatives beyond traditional practices. Monday’s gift distribution was not merely a material exchange; rather, through it he conveyed a clear political message of inclusiveness and appreciation for ordinary working people.