Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday recalled with a deep sense of gratitude the sacrifices of all those who fought for establishment of Awami League and expressed her firm conviction that this party would build Bangladesh as a self-respecting nation. “Only Awami League can work for the wellbeing of the people as this is the only political party that steadfastly struggled decade after decade for their political, economic and cultural freedom,” she told the Jatiya Sangsad rising on a point of order.
Speaking on the occasion of the 64th founding anniversary of Awami League, the prime minister said that this great political party was formed on June 23 in 1949 coinciding with the fall of the last independent ruler of Bengal Nawab Sirajuddowla at the historic Battle of Plassey, some 246 years ago.
The prime minister told the parliament that the purpose behind choosing June 23 as the founding day for Awami League was to tell the world that the freedom of Bengalis didn’t come to an ultimate end with the fall of Nawab Sirajuddowla on this day two and a half centuries ago at Plassey at the hands of the British. Paying tribute to the memory of the founding leaders of the ruling Awami League, Sheikh Hasina said that Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani took over as the first president of this party while Shamsul Haque became the first general secretary and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the first joint general secretary while he was still in jail.
The prime minister claimed that whenever the Awami League comes to power, the people can see a surge of development in every sector. “Whatever achievements you are witnessing in the country today, have been brought by Awami League,” she further said adding that her government established democracy, gave people their rights back and restored the Constitution to its original form.
“We have begun the war crimes trial as per our electoral promises and we will complete it and free the nation of a decades-old shame,” Sheikh Hasina said and informed the House that her government successfully settled the long-standing dispute over maritime boundary with Burma and hopefully would also succeed in doing the same with India if Awami League is voted to power through the next elections.
The prime minister recounted the achievements of the post-liberation government set up by Awami League and said that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman developed the war-ravaged country from the scratch, reorganizing the army, navy, air force and the entire civil administration. “No one could imagine that Bangladesh would turn around so amazingly in only three and a half years,” she added.
Earlier, treasury bench senior member Amir Hossain Amu, rising on a point of order to comment on the same issue of the 64th founding anniversary of Awami League, termed June 23 as a “historic day” for the nation and said his party worked for the ultimate goal of the liberation of Bangladesh right from its inception in 1949.
“If we analyze all political activities of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, we will see that all of those were conducted with one major goal – the liberation of the Bengali nation,” Amu told the parliament adding that in reality Bangladesh achieved its independence on March 7, 1971 when Mujib delivered his historic speech at Shuhrawardy Uddyan.
Tofail Ahmed, another senior treasury bench member, who first took the floor on a point of order, said that the actual seeds of independence for the Bengali nation were sown on June 23 in 1949, the day when his party was formally established under the leadership of Maulana Bhasani, Shamsul Haque and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Speaking on the life and work of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tofail Ahmed, who held the most coveted position of political secretary to the late leader, also paid his rich tribute to the memory of Mujib and said it was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who transformed an unarmed nation into an armed one on March 7, 1971 with his call to the people to liberate the country with whatever they have if he is not there to ask them to do so.
-With The Independent input
