Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Wednesday said poets should come forward to clear the confusion among middle-class people about the adverse role of militant patrons in the country.
He was addressing a meeting organised at the Sufia Kamal auditorium of the National Museum on the occasion of ‘World Poetry Day’.
The minister said as a political street fighter, he had chanted slogans for the freedom of the country and one of those slogans ‘Joy Bangla’ also became the war cry of the freedom fighters.
Citing Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, English poets Coleridge and Wordsworth and Greek philosopher Plato, he said any combination of sweet sounding words made poetry.
Referring to the country’s current political situation, Inu said: “It was not merely a struggle for power. It was a struggle for democracy and peace.”
Explaining further, he said, “Since 1990, we’ve got democracy but not peace and that is overshadowed by militancy. We must eliminate militancy if we want to achieve the lasting peace.”
He blamed the opposition BNP for trying to legitimise militants and criminals in the guise of election and democracy, saying that it will not be allowed at all.
The minister called upon the nation to resist the forces harboring militants and other subversive elements and ensure that they never return to power.
At the beginning of his speech, he described the month of March as a “turning point” in the history of the nation.
“It was this month when the Father of the Nation was born. It was this month that Independence was declared. It was also this month when Bangabandhu delivered his historic 7 March Speech,” Inu said.
Paying glowing tribute to the martyrs of 1971, he recalled that the genocide also began in March on the ‘Black Night’ of March 25, 1971.
