Today 17 March. Today is the 101th birthday of Father of the Bengali Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The day is also National Children’s Day. Around this day, apart from Bangladesh, huge excitements and emotions are going on among Bangladeshis and other people in different countries of the world. Various programmes are going on to remember an undisputed leader of Bengalis,a leader of the world too. Because Bangabandhu has not only given a land and a separate ethnicity to a nation named Bengali. He became the leader of the exploited, oppressed and deprived people of the world through the Bengali independence movement.
This day is the happiest day for the people of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu was the only one born in the thousand year history of Bengalis. If he was not born, independent Bangladesh would not have been born.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will always be remembered by the Bengalis. Because after the independence of India, Bangabandhu was the only Bengali who revolted against the ‘two nation’s theory’ basis of Indian subcontinental politics divided based on the faith. He stood in the way of the unification of the two nations. With the victory on 16 December 1971, that nightmare was buried forever in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangabandhu was born on this day in 1920 in an aristocratic Sheikh family at Tungipara in Gopalganj. He was the third of four daughters and two sons of father Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and mother Sayera Khatun. The affectionate name given to him by his parents was Khoka.
His anti-injustice mentality, his love for the poor and his promise to alleviate their suffering brought him into politics. He got involved in politics from school.
When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, Sheikh Mujib also moved to Dhaka. He formed Chhatra League in 1948 with new political thinking. In 1949 he was elected joint secretary of the newly formed East Pakistan Awami Muslim League. Sheikh Mujib’s political activities began with his participation in the movement to make Bengali one of the state languages. He became the undisputed leader of the Bengalis through the great language movement of 1947 to 1952, the anti-military movement of 1956, the education movement of 1962 and the historic six-point movement of 1966.Through the education movement of 1962 and the historic six-point movement of 1966, he became the undisputed leader of the Bengalis.Through the education movement of 1962 and the historic six-point movement of 1966, he became the undisputed leader of the Bengalis.
Through the mass uprising of 1969, the student masses gave him the title of ‘Bangabandhu’.
In the election of 1970, the Bengalis expressed their unwavering support for Bangabandhu’s 6 points. The Pakistani ruling class started the politics of conspiracy against the Bengalis without handing over power to the Awami League.
Bangabandhu in his historic speech on 7 March 1971 called for independence. On 25 March Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence when the Pakistani forces started a planned genocide. Responding to his call, the people of the country fought for almost nine months and achieved an independent sovereign Bangladesh.
A deep tribute on the birthday of this great leader who shaped independent Bangladesh. A special event or happy day is celebrated as Children’s Day.
…….. August 15, 1975, he was a brutally murdered at the hands of some misguided Army people. Long after this heinous assassination, his blood-worthy legacy has been realized in the progressive and secular republic of Bangladesh Bangabandhu under the leadership of his daughter Sheikh Hasina. The country is moving forward.
