From Bangabandhu to Sheikh Hasina: Building a Digital State from the Idea of Golden Bengal

The Padma Bridge is officially inaugurated on June 25, 2022. Both national and international media published the news of the inauguration of this bridge. It draws high praise from the international community and organizations. But this path was not easy. After the formation of the Awami League government under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina in 1996, the preliminary work for the construction of the Padma Bridge started. After monitoring the movement of the river and conducting a feasibility study in a scientific manner, the construction site of the bridge at the two ends of Mawa and Janjira was finalized. The foundation stone of the Padma Bridge was also laid by the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2001. But due to the change of government, the construction work halted. Later, after the Awami League government came to power again in 2008, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina started the initial work for the construction of the Padma Bridge. As a result, today about one-third of the land in the southwest is directly connected to the whole of Bangladesh, including the capital, by road. At this time, the Padma Bridge has imbued new hope into the confidence of the Bengali nation.

The world is stunned by the way such a difficult project Padma Bridge Bangladesh implemented with its own fund.  Even a country like Pakistan acknowledges that this was possible because of the indomitable courage and foresight of Hon'ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina had to face many obstacles to build this bridge, aiming to change the lives of about 50 million people in the southwest region. First of all, the river bed of this strong current is very deep and complicated in nature, we call the confluence of the Brahmaputra and Padma rivers the Padma. Notably, the Brahmaputra is also one of the widest rivers in the world. When the strong current of the Padma meets it, its current becomes even greater than that of the Amazon. Bangladesh has set an example of building a two-storied bridge of aesthetic installation in the heart of the world by overcoming so many natural adversities. This bridge has now become a symbol of strong Bangladesh and the indomitable morale of the Bengali nation in the international arena.

The Bangladesh government has had to deal with such terrible natural adversities on the one hand and had to endure political harassment on another hand. Building this bridge became a matter of political commitment for the Awami League at one stage amid unnecessary criticism, frustrating rumours and international conspiracies. The head of government and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina has fulfilled the commitment to the people by tackling multi-faceted conspiracies. She is like the indomitable daughter of an indomitable father. Just as Bangabandhu's leadership, courage and foresight for the long Liberation War of the Bengali nation is an educative chapter for the Bengali nation, Sheikh Hasina's philosophy for the betterment of the country’s people is also an example for the new generation.

One of the philosophies of Bangabandhu to bring smiles to the faces of the poor was the development of infrastructure associated with the economic emancipation of the mass people. His daughter Sheikh Hasina is implementing Bangabandhu's philosophy of a humane state. In the backdrops of opening the Padma Bridge, all the development works and philosophy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to build a Digital Bangladesh are now circulating in the media, social media and the masses. However, in such an aesthetic time, let us know a little about the foundations of the establishment of Bangabandhu Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal) as today we are standing as a digital state on the foundation laid by Bangabandhu as a modern state.