Hiren Pandit: The Awami League has formed the basis of Bengali nationalism, democratic culture, and ideals of building a democratic society free from exploitation, the political-economic-social and cultural philosophy of building a developed, prosperous, modern, progressive society and state system. Sheikh Hasina is the successor of the blood and ideals of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the Bengali nation, the greatest Bengali of all time, and the great hero of Independence. She is the last shelter of Bengali hopes. She is the savior in crisis. She is the epitome of unwavering faith in struggle.
After the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu, Sheikh Hasina has taken the wheel of the Awami League as a symbol of unity in extremely difficult times. She has walked a long way in the struggle for democracy. She came back from the face of death again and again. She brought Awami League to power after 21 years as a popular party. Along with the economic, social, political, and cultural liberation of the people in the democratic movement of Bangladesh, she has always played a politically vocal and protesting role against all kinds of exploitation, deprivation, injustice, injustice and oppression.
Among all prevailing policies, politics is considered the best policy. Because politics revolves around the public good and the overall significance above individual interests. The practice of real politics is to voluntarily engage oneself in political activities for the benefit of the people without remuneration. The main goal of politics is public welfare. This applies to everyone, especially the grassroots parties like Awami League. We have not yet reached our desired goal. Poverty and unemployment are major problems. Although poverty has been reduced, it has not been completely eradicated. Unemployment is increasing. Income inequality is also increasing. Corruption is also a major obstacle. Highlighting these problems, Bangladesh should move towards the desired goal. That is why visionary leadership is needed. Public welfare should be the aim of every political party. If this is done, it will be possible to establish a developed and prosperous Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has achieved incredible success in various fields. Sheikh Hasina is now a name admired by world leaders. Sheikh Hasina always said that she sacrificed her life for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh. She mentioned, “My father has given independence to the people of this country and his aim is to protect that freedom and move forward with everyone.” We are working towards building a developed, prosperous country. We hope we can reach that goal. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for the people of Bengal as Bangabandhu gave his life to the people of Bengal. Sheikh Hasina said in an emotional voice, I have lost everyone including my parents. I was prevented from entering the country, yet I managed to enter the country. My father Bangabandhu has fought and struggled to free the people of the country from hunger and poverty. We are working tirelessly to establish his ideals and goals.
Bangabandhu gave six points for independence. But there was a doubt in him. Because he knew there would be no solution in six points. For this freedom, he had to endure jail, oppression and torture. During the Liberation War, Bangabandhu was arrested and taken to Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A very hot place where he was kept and later in freezing cold. He was hit on the back of the head while being taken, prisoner.
Bangabandhu did everything necessary to build the war-devastated country after independence. In just three and a half years of running the state, he has created all the basic structures, in one word, it is unbelievable. Bangabandhu gave freedom, he wanted to give economic freedom to the people of this country, is this his crime, he killed? She said we are working with the goal that no one remains homeless and unemployed. But even though the outbreak of coronavirus has created a bit of a problem, we are trying to overcome the situation. We have taken various programs and announced packages to deal with Corona.
Awami League is now the government running the country. This party has a glorious role in every struggle of Bengalis starting from the freedom struggle of the country. In 1971, under the leadership of Bangabandhu, Bengalis attained an independent sovereign country. In continuation of history, his daughter Sheikh Hasina is now leading the country. Under her leadership, the country is now on the highway of development. Along with development, she emphasized winning people’s hearts. She urged the leaders and activists to work from now to make the party victorious in the next elections. Talks about finding poor-helpless people. She also assured that all kinds of cooperation will be given to them by the government.
The human being is the only political creature in creation. Due to genetic characteristics, in most cases, the next political successor emerges from a political family by birth and practices simple habits like imitating the predecessors in speech, action and behavior. Politics is primarily about the public interest and uniting people to advance welfare efforts, but politicians often try to achieve personal and party benefits by dividing people rather than uniting them for their own sake. In this case, their promotion style is different depending on the country and region. Sometimes religion, sometimes caste, sometimes caste, sometimes native-foreign etc. divisions have been used amicably.
The modern state is formed and governed by the process of politics, where the philosophy of direct participation of the people and management of their welfare has played a special role, in liberating the state from ancient or medieval feudal dictatorships. For this reason, politics is considered an essential ideal in modern state-building. By participating in the governance of the modern state, people can reflect their ideals. Because of this, the state has been able to change its character rapidly. A modern state now guarantees people a better life by fulfilling all the basic rights conditions including food, clothing, education, medical care and shelter. No society can become a modern state without politics. For that reason, it is said that the acceptable way of modern state system, life system and people’s overall welfare and development is to run the state through political means. No alternative system to politics can be imagined in a modern state.
From 2001 to 2008, there was a big conspiracy to wipe out the Awami League by using state power in the field of politics. Politics then becomes really complicated for politicians. However, after the 2008 elections, there is a possibility that the politics of Bangladesh will go back to the previous place. The government formed under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina has developed the socio-economic and political development of the country through the formulation of the Charter of Change and Vision 2021.
And after a few months, the twelfth national parliament election is going to be held in the country. Election-centric politics is once again in a contradictory position as if it is preparing for a field match. But politics is not just about being in and staying in power. Building a modern state system to realize the welfare of the people. For that reason, it is now imperative for this vast and densely populated country not to prepare for war, but to show the political parties how much they are willing to take and how much they are willing to give. A plan to build a non-sectarian democratic state. In order to have a proper reflection of modern democratic politics, the standard of education and culture must be developed along with economic development. Only then will our people not only survive but evolve to meet the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Now that politics should be brought back to the country.
According to political analysts, the party developed as a non-sectarian social democratic party under the leadership of Bangabandhu and the party led by his daughter Sheikh Hasina is Modern and Secular Democratic Party. Awami League has the power to turn around in any crisis and has the ability to create new leaders in leadership in difficult situations. After the death of Bangabandhu, the party has shown the ability to create new leadership even in a state of extreme leadershiplessness. Whenever the Awami League won the elections and formed the government in Bangladesh, the people of Bangladesh benefited. From 2009 to 2022, Bangladesh has caught the attention of the world due to its unprecedented socio-economic development in the last 14 years. Bangladesh is now a development role model all over the world. After dealing with the Covid situation, the global recession caused by the Russia-Ukraine war is also trying to overcome and the government formed under the leadership of Bangladesh Awami League acted as a catalyst behind this achievement and the party is led by Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina.
Public support is the root of political parties. It can be said about Awami League, the history of this party is the political and social history of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu’s goal was to create a golden Bengal. Sheikh Hasina has achieved that goal with the goal of building a digital Bangladesh. She aims to make Bangladesh not only a developing country but also a developed country.
Bangabandhu dreamed of a non-communal Bangladesh. He wanted to establish the democracy of the exploited by alleviating the suffering of the people of the country. Bangladesh Awami League has no choice but to ensure the prosperous future of the country’s people besides building that non-communal developed Bangladesh. Two reasons can also be pointed out. One is economic, the other is political. Today’s Bangladesh is a changed Bangladesh. Undoubtedly, the shaper of this changing Bangladesh is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The freedom attained through the great war of liberation under the leadership of Bangabandhu was a great achievement for Bengalis. The transition of Bangladesh from the list of least developed countries to developing countries undoubtedly carries a different significance. Under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangabandhu’s dream is determined to build a developed, prosperous and smart Bangladesh.
Equal participation of men and women, ensuring access to technology for all irrespective of rich and poor, and reducing distance in access to urban and rural services were all the main objectives and goals of Digital Bangladesh. With inclusive development and technology, now anyone can work freelancing even in the village. All this has been made possible by the progressive technological, inclusive development of People’s Leader Sheikh Hasina’s Digital Bangladesh.
After the successful implementation of the pledge to build a digital Bangladesh, now the new program has come. That is Smart Bangladesh. A cost-effective, sustainable, intelligent, knowledge-based, innovative Smart Bangladesh will be built on these four main foundations of Smart Citizens, Smart Economy, Smart Government and Smart Society by 2041.
Hiren Pandit is a columnist and a researcher