Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had decided to stay at his personal residence at Dhanmandi (Road) 32 instead of the official Prime Minister’s bungalow, “Ganobhaban”, to keep in touch with the people, said his private secretary, Dr Mohammad Farash Uddin.
“Bangabandhu, the leader of the masses, took the final decision not to live at Ganobhaban on his last birthday on March 17, 1975 for keeping close association with the people,” he told BSS in an interview marking the 95th birthday of the Great Leader.
Farash Uddin, who was also the governor of Bangladesh Bank, said Bangabandhu took the decision at a time when the law and order situation of the country had deteriorated as the “Sarbahara Party” was very active and speculations of international conspiracy was rife.
Many people thought that the bloody incident of August 15 could have been avoided, apparently, if Bangabandhu had stayed at the Ganobhaban. In this context, Farash Uddin said Bangabandhu might have survived the military coup.
He said, Bangabandhu took such an important decision following the advice of Begum Fajilatunnessa Mujib as once Begum Mujib told him, “I don’t want to keep Bangabandhu imprisoned at Ganobhaban by creating a wall between him and the people.”
Farash Uddin quoted Begum Mujib as saying, Bangabandhu, as a statesman, could not run the state by alienating himself from the people as the common people came in close contact with him if he stayed at Dhanmondi 32 residence instead of Ganobhaban.
Bangabandhu followed Begum Mujib’s decisions considering it to be logical, Farash Uddin said, and also quoted her as saying, “I send people to the market and Bangabandhu himself see the commodities bought from the market.
If Bangabandhu stays at the Dhanmandi 32 residence, he could understand the prices of commodities in the market”.
