President Abdul Hamid on Saturday urged all quarters irrespective of party affiliations and opinions to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“Building a golden Bengal was the life-long dream of Bangabandhu and he strongly believed in flourishing of non- communal spirit and democracy . . . we will be able to show real respect to Bangabandhu when we will be able to establish a happy and prosperous country,” said the President while speaking at a discussion meeting on “Bangabandhu and Bangladesh”.
Gopalganj Zilla Samity, Dhaka organized the discussion meeting and doa mahfil in observance of the 39th death anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Mourning Day.
At the outset of his speech, the President paid respect to Bangabandhu and the family members who were brutally killed on August 15, 1975.
President Abdul Hamid said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken up ‘Vision 2021’ and ‘Vision 2041’ for the welfare of the poor and the distressed people like her father Bangabandhu.
“United efforts will have to continue to implement these programmes . . . we have to devote ourselves to build the country rising above all sorts of greediness,” he said.
“Let’s come to turn the grief of August 15 into strength and engage our merits, work and devotion to build a happy-prosperous golden Bengal,” said the President.
He said after the liberation, Bangabandhu started working to rebuild the war-ravaged economy by adopting a development master-plan. In his address to the nation on December 15, 1973 Bangabandhu urged the nation to work together to build a country
free from hunger, exploitation and communalism, the Presided added.
But it is a matter of great grief that the anti-liberation clique killed brutally the father of the nation and most of his family members on August 15, 1975 aiming at reversing the wheels of development of Bangladesh and wiping out of Bangabandhu’s ideology.
But it was proved wrong, said the President and added that Bangabandhu is still alive in the hearts of millions of Bengalis who are working under the leadership of Prime Minister Skeikh
Hasina to fulfil the dream of the father of the nation. “The ideology of Bangabandhu will continue to inspire new generation to engage themselves in building a happy and prosperous country,” the President added.
Recalling the August 15 incident, the President termed the brutal killing of Bangabandhu and most of his family members as a most shameful chapter in the history of Bangladesh, saying that the killers killed Bangabandhu at the direct and indirect provocation of anti-liberation conspirators.
Even Bangabandhu’s wife, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and child Sheikh Russell were not spared, he added.
“It is really a tragic and heart-rending incident not only in the history of Bengali, also in the history of the world and the aim of the killers was not only murdering a President, they wanted to wipe out the ideology of the Liberation War and reestablished the defeated forces,” said the President.
Gopalganj Zilla Samity, Dhaka organized the programme with its president Sheikh Kabir Hossain in the chair. Awami League international affairs secretary Muhammad Faruk Khan MP, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, Awami League religious affairs secretary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Awami Swechhasebak League president Molla Md Abu Kawsar, among others, addressed it.
University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Prof Dr AK Azad Chowdhury delivered the keynote speech at the discussion.
