On Monday, parliament witnessed a rare occasion when former president M Abdul Hamid observed its session from the gallery.
When Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury announced his presence in parliament at around 7.30pm, the House burst into applause and welcomed M Abdul Hamid, who had been speaker of parliament for a long time.
The 24th session of the eleventh National Parliament for the 2023-2024 fiscal year began on Sunday afternoon with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
While talking on a point of order, opposition lawmaker Mujibul Haque Chunnu termed the presence of the former president in the parliament session as an example of the beauty of democracy and said: “This is one of the unique incidents of this parliament and so for the first time a former president who was also the deputy speaker and the speaker of the house is observing the parliament session.”
Recently, Abdul Hamid went into retirement after spending 10 years and 41 days as the president of the country.
A veteran politician and parliamentarian, Abdul Hamid was elected for his second term as the country's president five years ago in 2018.
He took charge as president for the first time on March 14, 2013, when then-president Md Zillur Rahman was under treatment in Singapore. After the death of Zillur Rahman, he became acting president on March 20, 2013.
Later, he was elected president uncontested on April 22, 2013.
Md Abdul Hamid was born on January 1, 1944 at Kamalpur in Mithamain upazila under Kishoreganj district.
He began his political career in 1959 by joining Bangladesh Chhatra League. He joined the Awami League at the end of 1969.
Abdul Hamid was elected speaker in the ninth parliament and served in the office from 2009-2013.
He was elected a member of Parliament (MP) seven times following the country's independence in 1971.