Hiren Pandit: Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana could not return to the country for six years after the brutal assassination of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family members on August 15, 1975, due to the conspiracy of assassins and lack of security. Awami League leaders and workers spread across the country amid various adversities and became more assertive at one time.
They became intense with the determination to build a new country. Then, in the absence of Sheikh Hasina, the leaders and activists elected her as the president of the Bangladesh Awami League through the council. She returned on 17 May 1981.
After returning to the country in 1981, he focused on bringing the country back from the Pakistani ideology to the spirit of the liberation war and realizing his father’s dream. Building national unity based on the spirit of the liberation war, secularism, democratic values, equality, justice, development, and progress was difficult. Democracy, politics, education, culture, health, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and overall infrastructure have improved. It was Bangabandhu’s dream to put a smile on the faces of the suffering people.
Sheikh Hasina’s goal is the liberation of the poor people, like an echo of her father’s dream. Liberation, war, and freedom are the proudest pride of our national life. People in Bangladesh are moving forward with the spirit of liberation war. The liberation war has a comprehensive and multi-dimensional form in the measure of the spirit of the liberation war. This consciousness is bringing revolutionary changes in our socio-cultural and political life.
The spirit of the liberation war was destroyed by killing Bangabandhu. Sheikh Hasina has made relentless efforts to restore that consciousness. The spirit of the liberation war is manifested in the patriotic ruler and cherishing the promise of establishing the just rights of the people. However, even after 53 years of independence, the issue of the spirit of the liberation war remains unresolved. Even after the liberation war, the forces opposing the liberation war were politically in a strong position.
After the killing of Bangabandhu, the democracy of the country and the development of the spirit of the liberation war have been repeatedly hindered – or would the passage happen? There is only one answer to such many questions – because of Sheikh Hasina’s return to the country, democracy has been liberated today, and Bangladesh has stood up in the world on the path of development and progress.
Sheikh Hasina led the Awami League as a symbol of party unity in the most challenging times. He always fought in the struggle for democracy. She has repeatedly come back from death’s door. She brought the Awami League to power as a popular party in 1996 after 21 years and has been working tirelessly to institutionalize democracy in Bangladesh. In the post-war period, the events of August 15, 1975, were terrifying in the reality of the newly independent country. Then the Pakistani trend started, and it was difficult to get out of it. The freedom spirit of the liberation war was forgotten, and democracy and cultural progress were disrupted.
Bangabandhu returned in 1996 under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina after 21 years, Jay Bangla was resounded and the history of the liberation war was re-established in self-glory. Having won the elections in 2008 and 2014, 2018 and 2024, the current generation is energized today with the spirit of the liberation war, as it has been in power for 15 and a half years. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always says that the continuity of development and democracy can be protected by being inspired by the spirit of the liberation war. The father of the nation dreamed of changing the fate of the people of Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina is working selflessly towards that goal.
These words also express the spirit of the liberation war. Sheikh Hasina made the impossible possible by forming the government in 1996, which was to prosecute the killers of Bangabandhu and, later, in 2010, bring the war criminals to justice. And that opportunity came to carry forward the ideals of the Bengali nation. After the assassination of Bangabandhu by the anti-independence domestic and foreign gangs, the blackness engulfed her, and she first lit the torch of light to chase away that darkness. After the initial crisis, restrictions continue to shine. That torch begins Rahu’s turn for liberation just as the Bengali is alone in the morning to remove all the rubbish, rich in promise, a wind of auspicious promise.
She was blowing from the day he returned to the country. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s father, the state’s founder, or the leader of the freedom struggle, has always held the seat of dignity in the country.
The liberation war is the most glorious event for the Bengali nation. As long as the Bengali nation exists, this liberation war will remain the chapter of the greatest glory, as an unforgettable story of glory. Because the Bengali nation has been exploited by one ruler or the other for a long time, many things must be sacrificed. Sometimes, the Mughal-Pathans, sometimes the British, and sometimes the Pakistanis had to be crushed. Bengali history means the history of exploitation and deprivation of rights. Bengali history means the history of lack and pain.
To inspire today’s new generation in the spirit of the liberation war, it is necessary to present the correct history of the liberation war to them. Books written on the history of the Liberation War and various films and dramas made on the Liberation War need to be promoted more and more. Today’s generation must be told that the Bengali nation had to struggle for liberation.
It should be known to the new generation that the freedom fighters despised their lives, sacrificed their lives to liberate the motherland and motherland, and raised the victory flag of independent Bangladesh. The achievements of our liberation war should be presented to them. During the war of liberation, the Pakistani occupation forces took all the necessary measures to wipe out a nation forever.
As a result, they killed the sun children of this country, including workers, teachers, intellectuals, and journalists. It is everyone’s responsibility and duty to present the proper history of how the Bengali nation defeated them to the new generation, especially the young generation. But to what extent are we doing that?
The question has come before us. The war of liberation is the war to free the Bengali nation from the chains of exploitation. The spirit of the liberation war is the dream of our Bengali nation, the dream of the soul of a nation. This dream has stirred our hearts and inspired our dream to establish a sovereign state. They helped to realize the dream and accelerated this dream and quickened a new hope.
The spirit that united the Bengali nation to develop a democratic and non-exploitative society. We need to do more to spread this consciousness among the new generation. The consciousness of the new generation should be sharpened. Those who have not seen the liberation war but have heard it in the form of stories from an older person in their family, from a teacher, from a leader, from a freedom fighter, or from a book. We do not know how accurate that hearing or reading is or how widespread it is. Educational institutions can take the initiative. How successful are we to highlight the history of the liberation war?
A distortion of history can give a nation nothing but destruction and confusion. Bringing the fact that the country became independent under the leadership of Bangabandhu to the new generation, especially the young generation.
Which will inspire the new generation to practice patriotism. The accurate history of the liberation war will inspire the latest generation; we should start working now to sharpen this consciousness. Bangabandhu’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, began working as a pioneer for the overall welfare, development, and liberation of the people of Bangladesh. He has proved that he has no alternative to develop democracy in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina’s integrity, devotion, rational mindset, strong morale, wisdom, and extraordinary leadership have established Bangladesh at a different height in the world arena, and she is known as a world-renowned leader.
Awami League has always played and continues to play a politically vocal, defensive role against all forms of exploitation, deprivation, injustice, and oppression. Since its inception, it has worked for the people’s economic, social, political and cultural emancipation. When this party is in power, the fortunes of the people improve. The history of 75 years since the foundation of this party bears witness to that fact. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working towards establishing Bengali nationalism in the spirit of the liberation war, nurturing democratic culture, building a society free from exploitation, and building a developed, prosperous, modern, and progressive state system.
Sheikh Hasina has been leading the country for more than 14 years as the Prime Minister, and one of the reasons why Bangladesh has not fallen into any significant economic crisis like other countries in the current global financial crisis is that she has been able to take the economic base of the country in a strong position during this time. Otherwise, it would have been tough to save the country of 17 crore people from disaster, even during this crisis. Stating that Awami League will never forget the contribution of freedom fighters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government is building the country in the spirit and ideals of the liberation war. We never forget the contribution of freedom fighters to this country. Therefore, we have taken the initiative to build Bangladesh in the spirit and ideology of the liberation war.
The government is looking out for neglected freedom fighters and has taken all measures to ensure their benefits, like freedom fighters’ allowance. The freedom fighters were neglected, and the government took various measures to find them. The government is making arrangements for their allowance, state honors in case of death and even burial. It is our duty to honor and give dignity to those who took up arms and liberated this country at my father’s call.
The government is working to protect the memory of the liberation war. If the young generation learns the history of victory by seeing the memories of the liberation war, they will be inspired and know how to work for the country. The government is establishing freedom fighter complexes in every upazila.
It has also taken measures to preserve the historic Suhrawardy Udyan, where the Father of the Nation gave his historic 7th March speech, providing instructions on how to run the country after independence and Pakistani occupation, surrendered by Pakistani forces. No one will ever disrespect freedom fighters. In the future, no one will look down on the freedom fighters and their families. He also mentioned that his government has increased the allowance of freedom fighters and it will continue from generation to generation. Democracy is one of the teachings of the spirit of our liberation war. Because at the very core of our independence ithe ideal of democracy. The topic of the spirit of the liberation war is back.
As the Bengali nation under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu, we got an independent state, our own flag, and national anthem. To talk about the spirit of the liberation war, we have to go back to 1971. The spirit of the liberation war includes ‘declaring Bangladesh a sovereign people’s republic to establish equality, human dignity, and social justice for the people of Bangladesh’ contained in the constitution. Sheikh Hasina’s dream is to take the country forward in the spirit of the liberation war, to give the country’s people a taste of development. The main goal was to write the history of the liberation war, to place Bangabandhu’s existence in the history of the liberation war, and to place her in a proper place of dignity.
The excellent freedom struggle of Bangladesh promised to fulfill the fundamental rights of the countrymen, such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is walking on the path of development, progress, and prosperity, facing various domestic and foreign challenges. He is relentlessly trying to build a progressive, democratic, and non-communal Bangladesh free from hunger and poverty. The government is working on successfully implementing four foundations to make a smart Bangladesh.
These are Smart Citizens, Smart Economy, Smart Government, and Smart Society. Apart from this, the plan of how the delta will be in the year 2100 has been undertaken. All work in Smart Bangladesh will be done through technology, and every citizen will be proficient. Smart Bangladesh of 2041 will be a cost-effective, sustainable, intellectual, knowledge-based, and innovative Bangladesh.
The writer is an essayist, researcher, and columnist.