I wish Sheikh Rehana many happy returns of the day. Happy birthday to our sister Sheikh Rehana on this day 13 September! Sheikh Rehana is the younger daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and the beloved sister of our honourable Prime Minister Jononetree Sheikh Hasina. She is a proud mother of a scholar son Radwan Siddiq Bobby, Consultant to United Nations Development Program and two daughters, Tulip Siddiq, a politician of British Labour Party and elected Member of Parliament, and Azmina Siddiq Rupanti who are very well educated with familial, cultural, social, institutional, national, political, ethical and moral knowledge. She speaks little but works a lot in all respects. Sheikh Rehana is very gentle, amicable and dependable with modesty and generosity.
Sheikh Rehana is a person who has continuously been inspiring her elder sister honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to serve the people of the country since her childhood, especially since 1975. The blackest and the saddest day in the history of world civilisation as well as in the history of the nation of Bangladesh is 15 August 1975 because of the great tragedy of brutal assassination of Bangabandhu and his family members. The vested quarters killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with his family members with a view to destroying the democracy, Bengali nationalism, secular spirit and the spirit of liberation war. Fortunately, two daughters of Bangabandhu had been out of the country (in Belgium) on the day -- 15 August 1975. For this, Bangabandhu’s worthy inheritors Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived and established Bangabandhu’s ideology and the philosophy of Bengali nationalism in Bangladesh.
Sheikh Rehana is of great inspirational strength for our worthy Prime Minister Jononetree Sheikh Hasina. Both sisters depend on each other and share the same ideas with each other in the greater interest of the nation. It is a very common feature of Sheikh Hasina’s leadership. In the time of hardship and despair, Sheikh Rehana encourages her beloved sister to enlighten the nation with profound leadership and enormous courage. Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina turns to be a very dependable saviour in the dreadful phase of the fate of Bengali nation. Being proud citizens of an independent country, we have chances to know Sheikh Hasina in numerous manners, especially at the time of crisis and adversity. We enthusiastically watch her how courageous she is. Jononetree Sheikh Hasina repeatedly appears to be our only hope. Each adversity has observed how stable every of her decision is. Nobody is parallel to her not only within the country but also in the global arena. Certainly, the media of the world has been making such analysis for a long time. Sheikh Rehana is always with our Prime Minister in taking all these important steps for the betterment of the country.
None can possibly give a statement with a certainty that the democratic politics in Bangladesh has always followed a direct road. Soon after killing Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, the military rulers adopted the style of earlier Pakistan to govern Bangladesh which had been created through a great War of Liberation. After the brutal killing of Bangabandhu, Ziaur Rahman, who had taken power illegally, wanted to convert Bangladesh into a country following the Pakistani ideal.
In the early eighties, Awami League elected Sheikh Hasina the president of Bangladesh Awami League through a national council. After being elected, she returned to her own country braving the angry frowns of Zia's Military rule. It means that it is natural for her to steer the nation during disaster. Sheikh Hasina is the name of a dazzling flare that survived in the midst of fatal grenade attack. She has devoted herself to the wellbeing of the poor working-class people of Bangladesh. She is as strong-minded to shape the Sonar Bangla following Bangabandhu’s dreams as is she also a representative of a substantial democratic and non-communal secular Bangladesh moulded in the freedom struggle. Sheikh Hasina's political motto is “to upgrade the status of people’s lives.”
We are very fortunate that we have a very profound and rare leader like Sheikh Hasina who is at the same time very visionary, workaholic and honest per excellence. None will probably believe how a leader like Sheikh Hasina could assume the role of the helmsman in a third world or a developing country without observing her dynamic leadership.
She has taken electricity to the homes of those shot down for demanding electricity. Even after the World Bank’s withdrawal of funding, she has turned the building of the Padma Bridge into a reality. She has shown the people of the world that Bangladesh is a very capable country.
It is not merely the sincerity or honesty, which is Sheikh Hasina’s strength. She believes in showing that “we can do”. It means that the Bengalis can. Sheikh Hasina often states a line: “Since we won the victory through the War of Liberation, no triumphant nation can bow down and lose”. This is the magic of Sheikh Hasina. This is the slogan, which has made her a world leader in the 21st century. Hundreds of millions of people like me cherish a very strong belief that Sheikh Hasina shall surely set her trend of achievement in the global context.
Sheikh Hasina’s most affectionate sister is Sheikh Rehana who is tirelessly playing a very vital role in inspiring Sheikh Hasina to go forward with the advancement in all sections of the nation. On this day of Sheikh Rehana’s birth, let us wish her long life and sound health with full of joy and prosperity.
Professor M. Shahinoor Rahman is a researcher, folklorist, columnist and Pro-Vice Chancellor at Islamic University, Kushtia
