Bangabandhu’s birthday Father of the Nation’s 104th birth anniversary today

Today is the 104th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The day is being celebrated as National Child and Adolescent Day across the country. The architect of independent Bangladesh, the undisputed leader of the Bengali nation, was born on this day in 1920 in a noble Muslim family in Tungipara, Gopalganj district.

To celebrate the day, the national flag will be hoisted today in all government, semi-government, autonomous and private institutions and educational institutions and all government and private buildings and Bangladesh missions abroad.

On the occasion of Bangabandhu’s birthday and National Children’s Day, the President will pay tribute by placing wreaths at Bangabandhu’s tomb in Tungipara. Sahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Apart from this, the President and the Prime Minister gave messages on the occasion of the day.

National leaders led by Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay tribute at the tomb of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today at 10 am. At the same time they will participate in milad and doa mahfil and children gathering.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman started his political career in 1940 by joining the All India Muslim Students Federation. In 1946, he was elected as the General Secretary of Calcutta Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College) Student Council. In 1949, he was elected as the joint editor of the East Pakistan branch of the then Awami Muslim League.

He was elected General Secretary of the party in 1953 and Member of East Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1954 on a United Front ticket. This undisputed leader, who has been vocal throughout his life for the right of the Bengali nation, had to be imprisoned many times in his political life for taking a stand on the side of justice.

He led every democratic and independence movement, including the language movement of 1952, the United Front elections of 1954, the anti-military movement of 1958, the six-point movement of 1966 and later the 11-point movement and the popular uprising in 1969, and earned the title of Bangabandhu.

Under his courageous and visionary leadership, the Bengali nation began to prepare for the freedom movement step by step. In the general election of 1970, the absolute victory of the Awami League was achieved, but the military junta of Pakistan at that time did not hand over power and started oppressing the Bengali nation.

Bangabandhu called for freedom struggle in his historic March 7 speech of 1971. It has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by inclusion in UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register.

On March 26 (midnight of March 25) he officially declared the independence of Bangladesh and under his leadership the liberation war began in 1971. The much-desired victory and independence of Bengalis was achieved through nine months of bloody war.

He was awarded the Julio Curie Medal of the World Peace Council for his contribution to the ceaseless struggle for equality, friendship, freedom, democracy and world peace. He was selected as the greatest Bengali of all time in a BBC poll. At the very moment when Bangabandhu started taking various activities to achieve the economic liberation of the people of independent Bangladesh, the forces defeated in the war of independence and the permanent self-interested circles started a heinous conspiracy against him. As part of that conspiracy, he was killed along with most of his family members by some army officers at his residence in Dhanmondi on August 15, 1975.

In the eyes of the world media, Bangabandhu was a temporary man. This extraordinary leader is also called as ‘Symbol of Freedom’ or ‘Political Poet’. Foreign admirers, die-hard critics and even enemies sing his praises in their respective languages.

The legendary Cuban revolutionary leader of the 20th century, the late Fidel Castro, compared Bangladesh’s father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to the Himalayas. Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Laxman Kadir Gama while evaluating this great leader of Bangladesh said, ‘South Asia has given the world many teachers, philosophers, skilled statesmen, political leaders and warriors in the last few centuries. But, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman surpasses everything, his place is fixed in the highest seat of all time.

‘Bangabandhu was a leader of the people and made the supreme sacrifice in their service. The title of Bangabandhu given to him reflects the deep love of the people of the country for this patriotic leader’—former President of India Pranab Mukherjee wrote such comments in his comment book after visiting the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum on Road No. 32 in Dhanmondi on March 4, 2013.

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his commentary book, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led his people in the freedom struggle through his mesmerizing and immensely courageous leadership.

Indian National Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said, ‘I pay respect to a visionary leader and statesman Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He fought for freedom with unflinching courage despite the odds and adverse conditions.’

India’s West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum during her visit to Bangladesh. At that time, he wrote in the comment book, Bangabandhu is a burning inspiration in the minds of every freedom-loving, mother-tongue-loving people of the sub-continent. He is the chief commander of the liberation war, the architect and father of the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Mamata said, Bangabandhu has given Bengali language the status of excellence on the world stage. He is that rare leader to whom all people, irrespective of religion, bow down and are blessed.

While the West Pakistani military leadership of the time portrayed Bangabandhu as a ‘traitor’, history confirms his true position when his one-time bitter enemy called him a ‘great patriot’.

Major General Tozammel Hussain Malik, a former Pakistani (Balochistan) officer who participated in the 1971 war against the freedom fighters, later wrote in his memoirs, ‘In fact Mujib was not a traitor (although he was portrayed as such in Pakistan). He was a great patriot for his people.’

Another army officer recalled with great respect the historic and groundbreaking March 7 speech of Major Siddique Salik, the spokesperson of the then Pakistani junta. Salik wrote in his book, ‘After Bangabandhu’s speech at the Race Course Maidan, people flocked to the houses. They looked as if they were coming out of a mosque or church after hearing a message of hope.’