BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has been requested by the leadership of the ruling Awami League (AL) to shift the date of her birthday celebration.
AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Tuesday mooted a proposal to Begum Khaleda Zia, also a former Prime Minister of the country, to shift her birthday celebration by a day on August 16 instead of August 15-the National Mourning Day-so that the nation could not be divided further.
Begum Khaleda Zia celebrates her birthday on August 15, the day on which Father of the Nation and the then President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his family members and close relatives were killed by a military putsch in 1975.
The day (August 15) is observed as the National Mourning Day since 1976.
To convince Khaleda Zia to shift her birthday celebration, the AL General Secretary said, “Look the actual birthday of British Queen Elizabeth is in December. But she observes her birthday in July because the British people would suffer from extreme cold if she observes birthday in December.”
“Khaleda Zia please do not divide the nation further by celebrating your birthday on August 15,” Syed Ashraf pleaded, adding, “Khaleda Zia’s celebration of birthday on August 15 is nothing but an expression of her bitter detest.”
Leading political observers opined that the celebration of birthday by Khaleda Zia or Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should not be an issue for national debate rather it should left as an individual issue.
They, however, welcomed Syed Ashraf’s proposal as a development since it was a concrete proposal from a top AL leader to the BNP Chairperson. Now, we are to wait to see the BNP’s reactions, they said.
“The senior leaders of the two major political parties-AL and BNP-should sit together and discuss major national issues.
The heat in national politics will die down if the two sides sit for dialogue,” leading historian Prof Dr Ahmed Kamal of Dhaka University told The New Nation yesterday.
“Many issues could be settled if the two sides start discussion and sort out the issues that divides the nation,” he said, adding, “The top leaders of the two major parties should concentrate on how the nation could be developed and how democracy could get on a strong footing, leaving divisive strategy to outmaneuver each other.”
