The month of December is a month of joy for Bangladeshis across the globe. It is the month of victory after all, the month in which we defeated our Pakistani oppressors and achieved an independent Bangladesh.
We shouted “Joy Bangla” as the Mukti Bahinis moved into Dhaka along with their Indian allies to witness the historic surrender of the Pakistani armed forces, who thought they were too powerful for our Bangla Mukti Bahini but were proven oh so wrong.
My mother Hena, my seven-month-old brother Naweed, and I cheered as well, but, at the same time, there were hopes that my father, who had been missing after being arrested by the Pakistani army, would return home safely.
The whole day went by as we celebrated our victory, but he did not return -- that was in Dhaka in 1971.
I relived that same feeling of joy this year in London.
As the bells rang in churches to welcome Christmas, the 600,000-strong Bengali community unfurled the first ever bust of our great leader, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, while a television channel broadcast hair-raising songs of freedom.
A man who has nothing else to worship, no other dreams, took money out his own life savings to have a bust of Bangabandhu made in India and have it flown into London
A man who has nothing else to worship, no other dreams, took money out of his own life savings to have a bust of Bangabandhu made in India and have it flown into London. He worked hard to get approval from the local London Council to install it in front of his house overlooking the busy Sidney Street in East London, the hub of London’s Bangladeshi community and politics.
He got approval in March 2016 and started to install it in his garden at 5 Erlich Cottages, Sidney Street in London. Bangladesh’s veteran politician and Awami League MP Suranjit Sengupta, along with Bangladesh’s new High Commissioner M Nazmul Quaunine, unfurled the bust wrapped in the Bangladeshi flag amid cheers of “Joy Bangla” from freedom-loving Bangladeshis present at the event.
The man behind this great feat is a businessman and Joint Secretary of London Awami League Afsar Khan Sadek. “My dream has come true. I have been able to install my leader Bangabandhu’s statue in London. This is just the start. We will have his full statue one day in London’s Parliament Square,” an emotional Sadek told the crowd.
Since then, he has been placing flowers every morning at the bust.
Congratulations to Sadek and London’s Bangladeshi diaspora for establishing a very Bangladeshi tourist destination in London with a profound historical significance.
The new generation will now know who their Father of the Nation is and the great history of the birth of their great nation from the physical presence of Bangabandhu’s statue.
Another great thing that happened during Victory Day in London was the “Songs of Freedom by 100 performers” hosted by ATN Bangla at an auditorium in London. Several thousand Bangalis joined in chorus as the 100 singers sang “Joy Bangla, Banglar Joy.”
Poet Shamim Azad has continued to spread the true history of our struggle with the Bijoy Phool (Victory flower) lapel pins across and outside the diaspora. A minor act, but one with significant impact.
In 1971, the diaspora stood for our independence, and after 45 years London was heard screaming “Joy Bangla.”
Nadeem Qadir is the Press Minister of the Bangladesh High Commission in London.