The BNP has snubbed ruling party calls not to observe BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s 69th birthday on August 15, going ahead with plans to celebrate her birthday on National Mourning Day.
August 15 is observed as a day of mourning for the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the murder of most of his family.
Senior AL leaders, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have requested the BNP chief not to observe her birthday on August 15.
LGRD minister and general secretary of the Awami League, Syed Ashraful Islam, on Tuesday reiterated the request to Khaleda Zia during a Jubo League programme at Suhrawardy Udyan.
He said: “There can be no consensus with those who celebrate fake birthdays on the National Mourning Day. We have extended our hands to her in the past, but Khaleda did not accept it.”
“Even if it really is her birthday, she can celebrate it on August 16 to show respect for Bangabandhu. We don’t object to her celebrating her birthday,” Ashraf said.
In a phone conversation last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked Khaleda Zia not to observe her birthday on August 15.
“You visited our Dhanmondi Road 32 residence several times. You saw Sheikh Russel. When you observe your birthday on August 15, do you not remember Russel’s face?” In reply, Zia asked, “If someone is born on that day, can’t they celebrate their birthday?”
Maruf Kamal Khan, press secretary to BNP chairperson, said: “Madam usually does not observe her birthday. Party men come to her office with cakes and flowers.”
It has been reported that Khaleda’s marriage certificate allegedly lists her birthday as September 5, 1945, while in her first passport, it is allegedly dated August 19, 1946.
According to a curriculum vitae distributed to the media after taking oath as prime minister of Bangladesh in 1991, Khaleda was born in Feni on September 19, 1945.
The BNP observes Khaleda’s birthday on August 15.
The High Court, on July 27, 2008, found the decision of the BNP-led government to be illegal.