Nation can repay the debt of blood of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through achieving Bangladesh's development and people's welfare.
Bangabandhu has dedicated his whole life for the cause of the people as he deeply loved them. He wanted to see Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous nation where people would not be oppressed, intimidated and deprived.
To realise the rights of the Bengalis, he had fought against the Pakistanis for long 23 years and had faced unbearable torture.
On the night of March 25, 1971, Pakistan army arrested Bangabandhu from his Dhanmondi residence and sent him to a West Pakistani jail the following day.
Bangabandhu was subjected to inhuman torture in the Pakistan jail where he had been counting moments for the execution of his death sentence that was pronounced in a farcical trial.
“I was a prisoner in the condemned cell awaiting hanging. From the day I went into jail, I didn’t know whether I was going to live or not. I was mentally ready to die. But I knew Bangladesh would be liberated,” Bangabandhu spoke emotionally of his ordeal in Pakistani prison at a Press Conference in London.
Earlier on March 26 in 1971, Bangabandhu proclaimed independence of Bangladesh and urged people from all walks of life to participate wholeheartedly in the nation’s War of Liberation.
The nation’s expectations were fulfilled after the final victory in the nine-month-long War of Independence was achieved defeating Pakistani occupation forces on December 16 in 1971. But the people got the real taste of victory with the homecoming of Bangabandhu on January 10 in 1972.
After reaching Dhaka (Tejgaon) airport in the afternoon on January 10, Bangabandhu was greeted by tens of thousands of jubilant people who had been eagerly waiting to see the beloved leader since the liberation of the country on December 16 in 1971.
From airport Bangabandhu moved to the Racecourse Maidan (now SuhrawardyUdyan) where he addressed a spontaneous reception accorded to him by nearly one million cheerful countrymen. He recalled with respect the contribution of all during the war and urged the people to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
Bangabandhu took oath of office as the country’s Prime Minister on January 12, 1972.
After independence, Bangabandhu led the reformation of the war-ravaged country and started working for the people’s economic freedom.
His dream for a prosperous and inclusive Bangladesh was rightly reflected in the 1972 Constitution of the Republic. He was fully committed to lead the country in this direction.
Within only a few years after independence, he succeeded in materializing the growth potential of Bangladesh to a significant extent.
After getting a war-ravaged country with infrastructural backbone broken, the economy in shambles, millions of hungry people, he did not lose hope. On the first anniversary of independence, he uttered- "We will turn this war-ravaged country into Golden Bengal. In the Bengal of future- mothers will smile, and children will play. It will be a society free of exploitation. Start the movement of development in the fields and farms and in the factories. We can surely rebuild the country through hard work. Let us work together so that the Golden Bengal shines again."
Bangabandhu was always thinking about re-establishing 'Sonar Bangla'. But this was not mere political rhetoric for him.
Bangabandhu rightly prioritized agriculture and industrialization as the forces to rely on. He understood that agriculture will not only provide food but also will remain as the main source of income for the majority of the people.
He proposed initiatives that would reduce the cost of doing business when he was the Provincial Minister for Industry. At that time, he encouraged the entrepreneurs from home and abroad to invest in East Pakistan. But in the post-liberation era, the situation was entirely different.
He was a pragmatic leader and would have done more in liberalizing the economy and at the same time, keeping the issue of social justice on top of his mind.
But a different story was stored in the destiny. On the black night of 15 August 1975, Bangabandhu was assassinated along with many other family members and our journey towards wide-ranging development got halted.
The wheels of fortune started moving in the opposite direction denying the mass aspirations for equality which grew out of our war of liberation.
His elder daughter, our honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is now following his footsteps and has been able to establish successfully Bangladesh as a role model of sustainable and inclusive development for the rest of the world.
However, he remains with his daughters and us in spirit during our challenging journey of inclusive development. Surely the ugly face of income inequality has been visible these days but the consumption inequality still remains subdued. People at large are having minimum calorie intake regularly as there have been spectacular gains in our fight for the reduction of poverty.
There is no doubt that Bangabandhu was leading the country along the path of inclusive development based on prudent agricultural and industrial policies.
After a long time, we are again back on that prudent growth path under the leadership of Bangabandhu’s daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
She is now setting the tone from above and has been working hard defying all odds and obstacles to materialise Bangabandhu's dream.
Meanwhile, the Trial and execution of the top war criminals are one of the biggest successes of the present Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Jamaat and its sympathisers supported Pakistani occupation forces and committed genocide, and other heinous crimes, including rape, looting and arson on the people of Bengal.
The nation waited for almost 40 years to see the Jamaat leaders, who led the war crimes in different parts of the country, punished for their grave offences.
The Awami League in its election manifesto announced that they will put the war criminals on trial and have kept its word.
