2780
Published on June 24, 2020
Veteran politicians, academicians and analysts in a webinar discussion have said Bangladesh, Bangabandhu and Awami League (AL) are sewed in a single thread as if anyone talks about Bangladesh he or she must utter the names of Bangabandhu and AL.
Over seven decades ago on June 23 in 1949, the Awami League had begun its journey to realize the rights of repressed, deprived and downtrodden people and it had gone through struggles and movements and witnessed supreme sacrifices of its leaders and workers to establish people’s rights, they mentioned.
“Since the Battle of Plassey in 1757, many rebellions fought and struggled for the independence of this soil but they could not be successful. Only Bangabandhu had succeeded to free the land and the nation from the subjugation of long period through 1971 Liberation War,” Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader told the webinar online.
AL’s research wing Centre for Research and Information (CRI) on Tuesday night hosted the two-hour webinar on ‘Awami League: A Party of Masses’ which was aired live from 8:30 pm on the party’s official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/awamileague.1949/) and youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/myalbd).
AL Presidium member Engineer Mosharraf Hossain and Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Muhammad Faruque Khan, Dhaka University former Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique and senior journalist Ajay Dasgupta joined it online as discussants. Former student leader and journalist Subhash Singha Roy moderated it.
Party's Secretary-General and Minister of Roads and Bridges Obaidul Quader said after the defeat of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, on June 23 in 1757, many rebellions including Master Da Surya Sen, Pritilata Waddedar, Titumir, Khudiram Basu and Fakir Majnu Shah, Sepoy Mutineers revolted and struggled and embraced supreme sacrifice to free land from subjugation.
“But they could not be successful. But Khoka (Bangabandhu’s childhood name) who was born on the bank of Madhumati in Tungipara of Gopalganj in 1920 could do so by gifting a red-green map of independent Bangladesh through a nine-month-long bloodstained battle against Pakistani oppressors,” he said adding that thus the independent state named Bangladesh was born in 1971.
Quader said without the farsighted and prudent leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman it could not be possible to attain independence.
Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said Awami League under the leadership of Bangabandhu gifted the nation an independent state and his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been making utmost efforts to turn the country into a prosperous one to build a Sonar Bangla as dreamt of Bangabandhu.
Having the status of the country’s oldest and biggest and people-oriented political party through its over seven decades of journey, the AL has been working to realize and establish the rights of people and that is why the commoners feel that it is the party of their own, said the veteran politician.
Faruque Khan said after the independence, the works and plans Bangabandhu had done in only three and half years are comparable to works of 35 years.
He mentioned Bangabandhu’s plans and steps over utilizing marine recourses were invaluable and farsighted one and now the entire world is considering utilizing sea resources economically and it is called the blue economy.
Bringing back the refugees from Indian and returning back the members of allied forces of India within a very short span of time was a great achievement which could not be possible in any other country in similar incidents, he said.
Khan said Bangabandhu had given a constitution of the country within a very short time which was an epoch-making step.
Prof Arefin Siddique said the history of Awami League is the history of sacrifice as many leaders of the party tolerated tortures and repressions and embraced supreme sacrifice to realize the rights of people and Bangabandhu went jail for many times and him along with most of his family members embraced martyrdom but they never compromised with principles and ideologies.
Referring to the roles of Mir Jafar and Khandker Mostaq Ahmed, he said Bangabandhu always mentioned about different conspiracies in his many addresses including the January 10, 1972 speech on the day of his homecoming in independent Bangladesh.
“Such conspiracies are still going on,” Prof Siddique said.
In his address, Ajay Dasgupta analytically described historical backgrounds of the AL and Bangabandhu for the commoners.
Turning to present achievements of AL government, he described the construction of Padma Bridge with the domestic fund overcoming different hurdles and conspiracies as a bold step of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying “it is spirit and that spirit for never bowing down to conspiracy”.
The webinar was also aired on private run Bijoy TV as well as the official Facebook pages of national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), leading national dailies including Ittefaq, Samakal, Jugantar, and online portals bdnews24.com, banglanews24.com and jagonews24.com and private run TV channel Somoy television
This work is copyrighted and authorized by the Bangladesh Awami League. You may download, display, print and re-produce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice)for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organization.
