Kazi Salahuddin expelled from BSPA for 'hurtful' comments about journalists

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin has lost his honorary membership of the Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA, also known as Sports Writers Association) for making offensive comments about the families of sports journalists. The BSPA announced the expulsion of Salahuddin in a statement on Wednesday.

Since 2012, the BFF president has been a member of this traditional organization of sports journalists. Apart from this, BSPA strongly protested and condemned the objectionable comments of Salahuddin and BFF Vice President Kazi Nabil Ahmed about sports journalists and their families. 

"The Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) strongly protests and condemns the offensive and ugly comments made recently by BFF president Kazi Salahuddin and BFF vice-president Kazi Nabil Ahmed about sports journalists. How much hatred they have for journalists has been revealed in their speeches. They did not stop slandering not only the journalists but also their families and even the parents of the journalists. It has seriously hurt the entire journalistic community," BSPA's statement read.

"In the current context, his behavior and speech are all against the ideology of this traditional sports journalist organization. His snarky remarks hurt the self-esteem of sports journalists. Therefore, the executive committee of BSPA held an emergency meeting today. decided to expel Salahuddin from the post of honorary member," the statement further read.

The organization has a tradition of awarding honorary membership to proven sports organizers, legendary sportspersons, and media-related sports organizers. BSPA has honored many sports personalities including the former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief and present Hon'ble Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal with honorary membership. 

The BFF Executive Committee meeting was held on Tuesday. Before the start of the press conference, the BFF president started talking to the journalists with other officials sitting next to him. He then belittled the parents of the journalists, which was recorded on the mobile phones kept by the journalists.

Salahuddin was heard saying, "If journalists want to enter here [the BFF], they have to submit photos of their parents."

At that time, BFF vice-president Kazi Nabil Ahmed was sitting beside him. Salahuddin continued, "[A journalist] has to show a photo of his father wearing shoes. It should be mandatory."