Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta on Monday said Abdul Latif Siddique should have resigned from the cabinet before being sacked.

“He (Latif) should have resigned from the cabinet. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t do that,” he said.

Suranjit, also a member of Awami League advisory council, said this while addressing a discussion organised by Bangabandhu Academy at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in the city.

Mentioning that it was not an easy task to take a decision about Latif Siddique, Suranjit said the Prime Minister solved the problem with modesty and patience. “With this decision, Awami League has proved it’s a secular party, not an irreligious one,” he added.

At a views-exchange meeting with expatriates from Tangail in New York on September 28, Latif Siddique made disparaging remarks about hajj, one of the main pillars of Islam, and Tablig Jamaat.

He had said: “During hajj, too much of manpower is wasted. Over 20 lakh people have gone to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj. They’ve no work, no production and they only cause deduction.”

“Some 20 lakh Tablig Jamaat people get together annually who don’t do any work except halting traffic movement across the country,” he added.

On Sunday, Latif was first removed from the cabinet and later expelled from the Awami League presidium.