Hiren Pandit: Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest son of Bengali for a thousand years, the greatest Bengali of all time, and the great hero of history made the dream of Bengal a reality. The glorious event or chapter of the thousand-year history of the Bengali nation is the liberation war of 1971. The fresh blood of 3 million martyrs and the endless sacrifices of millions of mothers and sisters have earned our freedom through a war of seventy-one months.
After 23 years of agitation and nine months of armed conflict, the victory was won on December 16, defeating the invading Pakistani forces. The liberation war is the most glorious event for the Bengali nation and as long as the Bengali nation exists, this liberation war will remain as the chapter of the greatest glory, as an unforgettable story of glory. Because the Bengali nation has been exploited by some rulers since its birth, many things have to be sacrificed.
Sometimes by the Mughal-Pathans, sometimes by the British, and sometimes by the Pakistanis. It had to be crushed in the mill. The history of Bengalis 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, it is necessary to show in front of today’s generation that the Bengali nation had to struggle a lot in the liberation war.
The new generation should know 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 new generation has to think about them. We need to know who is holding that consciousness. We have to highlight the achievements of our liberation war in front of them. During the liberation war, the Pakistanis and the invading forces took all the necessary measures to wipe out a nation forever. As a result, they killed the sun-sons 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 the question is how much we are doing it. But the eyes and ears of the new generation are open. The liberation war is the war to free the Bengali nation from the chains of exploitation. The spirit of the liberation war is the eternally cherished dream of our Bengali nation, the dream of the consciousness of a nation.
This dream has stirred our hearts and inspired our dream to establish a sovereign state. Helped to realize the dream and accelerated this dream and accelerated a new hope. The spirit that united the Bengali nation to establish 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 the history of the liberation war in the form of stories from an elder person in their family, from a teacher, from a leader, from a freedom fighter or someone from the Khatak Dalal Eradication Committee or read the history of the liberation war in a book. We do not know how accurate that hearing or reading is or how extensive it is. The extent of their knowledge about the liberation war is also a matter of observation.
The history of the liberation war should be presented appropriately in front of our new generation. It should also be considered that the country does not go in the opposite direction. Elders of the family, school teachers, and any freedom fighter who directly participated in the liberation war or who has researched the liberation war can play a leading role in conveying the correct history of the liberation war to the new generation, especially the young generation. Young society, youth is a life force full of endless possibilities and colorful dreams of Bangladesh.
The thoughts of the youth will be the thoughts of Bangladesh, the thoughts of opening new horizons with Bangladesh, most important thoughts of the young society will be with Bangladesh. Bangladesh will be in all existence. The work of the youth will be the work of Bangladesh. All dreams should be about Bangladesh. The fact that the country became independent under the leadership of Bangabandhu should be understood by the new generation, especially the young generation.
Now the time has come for the new generation to carry forward the spirit of the liberation war. Pros and cons of independence must be identified. The need of the hour is to build a young generation enlightened with the spirit of liberation war and the new generation will take the right decisions to move the country forward. Through this, a dynamic nation will be formed and move forward with new expectations. The new generation will be modern in the spirit of liberation war and will implement Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s dream was to build Sonar Bangla. Bangabandhu had the spirit of liberating the country. Today’s generation should build the country in that spirit. must move on. Even after so many years of independence, why can’t we be free from corruption? Even today corruption is rampant in our pores. The blood of our heroes, the dream.
Today’s Bangladesh is their dream. Besides, those who opposed the independence of this country should be known. And the way is to pledge to build the country in the spirit of the liberation war. We have to convey the spirit of the liberation war to the new generation. They have to understand. The father of our nation wanted to build this country Sonar Bangla. Take his ideals and unite to form the country.
Even today, we have not reached the true spirit of the liberation war to the young society properly. This is our failure. We could not or can’t make proper use of this freedom that we got in exchange for the blood of 3 million Bengalis. In our education system from the beginning, different events of the liberation war have been described in different classes.
By reading these, the students are getting to know a little about the liberation war. But it is not possible to explain a subject like liberation war in just one chapter. Again, the schedule of textbooks is also limited. Besides, many attempts have been made to change the history of textbooks. Attempts have been made to cover up the correct information about the liberation war. But nothing was gained.
Truth is never pressed. It came out right. Those are the words they have to say. But every student should know the events of the liberation war in detail. The correct information should be given to them. No confusion can be kept. If it is not in the family, it should be reported in a different initiative. The self-sacrifice of the freedom fighters and the goal of the war, responsibilities, and duties towards the independent country should be understood.
The difference between what is the spirit of freedom and what is not the spirit of freedom should be highlighted. Because today’s children and youth are the future of tomorrow. They will guide us to a new day. We have to build in such a way that the way they see is right, we can trust their decisions. It is best if the teacher can tell the stories of the war of liberation to young children in the class, and tell the history of the heroism of this nation. As a result, the attention of the class will also increase and they will know the history of the liberation war.
If they can be introduced to the liberation war spirit, Bangabandhu’s dream from childhood, then when they grow up, if they do something wrong, they will at least remember the liberation war spirit of the teacher told in the class. If everyone doesn’t think there is no problem, if even a few people can change their mentality, that is our success. Change cannot be brought in a day. Bangabandhu’s dream was to build a corruption-free country. Creating non-sectarian consciousness.
Building a non-discrimination society. Freedom fighters fought for an independent country to build a harmonious Bangladesh. All this should be explained to them. As Bangladesh was born as an independent state from the ruins of the most brutal genocide, it was the commitment of every freedom fighter to democracy and equality that no one should be subjected to deprivation on the soil of the country, perhaps we have failed to fulfill that commitment. Secularism has been considered as one of the main pillars during the formation of Bangladesh and it is a deeply rooted belief in our freedom struggle.
A large-scale attack on secularism came with the assassination of Bangabandhu and the seizure of power by the military. In the context of these events, various amendments to the constitution and constitutional clauses guaranteeing secularism and religious freedom were gradually rendered irrelevant.
The biggest crisis of today, 1971 has to be understood afresh by deeply realizing the significance of all the glorious achievements and freedom struggle of Bangladesh. We have struggled for a fundamental reform of our society, which will on the one hand free us from all forms of backwardness, hatred, disability and narrow-mindedness and on the other hand free us from all forms of poverty and discrimination.
Social isolation is also unfortunately true. We are perhaps no longer willing to take the initiative to solve social problems on our shoulders. We need to think deeply and broadly about the lack of cultural activities and understand what has happened here. Cultural heritage was one of our weapons in the fight against Pakistani hegemony and their army. Particularly important in this regard is the near disappearance of cultural activities at the village level.
In this case, we are not talking about government-sponsored events, but rather the events that were organized with the spontaneous participation of people, the absence of cultural activities is alienating our young society from their heritage, identity, and pride and the resulting vacuum is being filled with the influence of various evil forces. To deal with the problems we face today, we need more solidarity among people, especially political parties, cultural organizations, youth, civil society, NGOs, media, and people of all faiths and ideologies. A mass awareness campaign should be conducted across the country. It will be told in a wide range, why Bangladesh was born and for what millions of people sacrificed their lives in 1971.
The current young generation of Bangladesh has not seen the liberation war; But heard or read the history of liberation war. Now it is a matter of seeing how accurate they are from where they read. Our previous generation has correctly presented the history of the liberation war in front of us? Or have we misled the younger generation by telling them distorted history? Young people should keep a watchful eye on this matter. The youth or the new generation should know the correct history.
The liberation war is the war to free the Bengali nation from the chains of exploitation. The spirit of liberation war is the name of a nation’s dream. The dream that inspired the nation to establish a sovereign state. The spirit that united the Bengali nation to establish a democratic and non-exploitative society. The glorious event or chapter of the thousand-year history of the Bengali nation is the liberation war of 1971.
The fresh blood of 3 million martyrs, the unlimited sacrifices of millions of mothers and sisters have earned our freedom through 9 months of war in 1971. As long as the Bengali nation exists, this war of liberation will remain the chapter of the greatest glory, as an unforgettable story of glory. Because the Bengali nation has been exploited by some rulers since birth, many things have to be sacrificed. Bangladesh would not have become independent if Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not born.
If the leader was not born, we would not have got the Bangladesh we got. To inspire today’s young generation in the spirit of the liberation war, it is necessary to present the correct history of the liberation war before them. Presenting the right information to them. During the war of liberation, Pakistanis took all the necessary measures to wipe out a nation forever. That is why they killed the workers, teachers, intellectuals, and journalists of the country. It is everyone’s responsibility and duty to present to the younger generation the correct history of how the Bengali nation defeated those who wanted to wipe out the Bengalis. Family members can play a leading role in presenting the correct history of the Liberation War to the new generation. Because a child or teenager acquires basic knowledge in the family. If the family tells him the correct history of the liberation war, there is less chance of the new generation getting confused. How successful are our schools, and universities in presenting the history of the liberation war in front of everyone?
We notice that the time that the government comes, that time there are various changes in history. History is changed according to one’s needs or convenience. This change is not a happy thing for a nation. Distortion of history is synonymous with destroying and confusing a nation. Now to establish the spirit of freedom struggle, the new generation should stand by and the wise guardians should stand by. Youth is a life force, fueled by endless possibilities and colorful dreams. A spark can turn youth into a burning flame, which can become as bright as a star. The dreams of the youth will be the dreams of Bangladesh, the thoughts will be the thoughts of Bangladesh, and the deeds will be the deeds of Bangladesh. In this, Bangabandhu’s Golden Bangla will be developed, and the spirit of liberation war will be realized.
The writer is a, columnist and researcher