Habib Sarwar Azad, Sylhet Bureau

Jamalganj UNO Shilpi Rani Modak faced severe criticism and backlash after inadvertently thanking the banned student organization Bangladesh Chhatra League during a public rally held in the presence of Sunamganj-1 Member of Parliament Kamruzzaman Kamrul.

The incident took place on Tuesday at 11:00 AM on the grounds of Sachna Bazar High School during a rally organized for the laying of the foundation stone and inauguration of the upazila flyover. Presiding over the event, UNO Shilpi Rani Modak thanked Chhatra League during her presidential address. A video of the speech subsequently went viral on Facebook, sparking widespread criticism and uproar.

The rally was attended by Sunamganj-1 MP Kamruzzaman Kamrul as the chief guest. Other dignitaries on the stage included flyover project director Ferdous Ahmad, Sunamganj LGED Executive Engineer Md. Anwar Hossain, central Krishak Dal joint general secretary Anisul Haque, along with local BNP leaders including former Dharmapasha upazila BNP president Abdul Motaleb Khan, former Jamalganj upazila BNP president Md. Abdur Rob and Nurul Haque Afindi, Jamalganj upazila BNP convenor Shafiqur Rahman, Tahirpur upazila convenor Md. Badal Mia, joint convenor Junab Ali, Dharmapasha joint convenors Rahmat Ali and Abdul Haq, alongside leaders of party affiliates and officials from the flyover implementation project.

Shilpi Rani Modak, a 37th BCS cadre officer previously serving at the Sylhet Divisional Commissioner's office, was posted as the Jamalganj UNO in June through a Ministry of Public Administration notification. Critics and local service recipients have alleged that since joining, she has favored certain BNP-Jamaat aligned figures and projected herself accordingly, while citizens visiting her office frequently faced mistreatment and denial of services.

Additionally, controversy arose earlier in August when local BNP, Jubo Dal, and Chhatra Dal leaders took to social media to protest alleged irregularities by the UNO in staffing and verification processes for government-announced family card distributions across union parishads.

Jamalganj upazila BNP joint convenor Masum Mahmud Talukdar described the remarks as deeply embarrassing, calling for an investigation into the officer's recruitment batch and tenure. Sunamganj district BNP member Advocate Abdul Haq remarked that associates of the former regime remain embedded in various administrative offices and must be removed, urging government ministers and MPs to take prompt investigative action.

When contacted on Tuesday evening regarding the social media backlash and her reference to Chhatra League, UNO Shilpi Rani Modak stated that she had thanked Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal as well during her speech, claiming that a slip of the tongue led to the mention of Chhatra League, which some netizens negatively highlighted on Facebook.