Elderly people of a village in Gazipur remembered fond memories of a visit by the late Queen Elizabeth II to their village in 1983.
“The queen sat in a jackfruit orchard and talked to the women of our village. We presented her with a key made of silver which symbolised that the door of the village would always be open for the queen,” said Saleha Akhter, 70.
The woman of Bairagir Chala village in Sreepur upazila told reporters that the villagers old enough to remember the queen’s visit mourned for her yesterday.
The queen visited the village on November 16, 1983, during her four-day visit to Bangladesh. After hearing about the queen’s demise, many villagers yesterday reminisced about how her visit changed the village forever.
The then military government of Bangladesh arranged the visit to show the queen an example of a “self-reliant” village of Bangladesh, Saleha said.
Shakhwat Hossain, who is aged around 60, said, “They brought electricity and built a concrete road at the village before her visit,” he said. “They built a building at the Sreepur Railway Station. Other buildings were constructed for the hospital and the upazila parishad office.
“Our village was filled with resources at the time. The farmers had cattle. Our ponds were filled with fish and we had large amounts of crops and vegetables. The queen saw these things.”
Actually, the entire Bairagir Chala had a makeover, he said, adding that the residents felt proud seeing their neighbourhoods in the national news for days.
The late HM Ershad, who was the president at the time, accompanied the queen, said Shakhwat, adding that they also paid tribute to the martyred freedom fighters at the National Memorial in savar.
Chand Miah, 70, said, “The queen talked to us. But we didn’t understand her words. Some other people interpreted what she was saying. We are really shocked at her death.”
Madu Ibne Mobarak, a school teacher, said the queen released fish fries in a pond which has almost dried up due to lack of maintenance.
Queen Elizabeth II also visited Dhaka in 1961, reports UNB.
