The year-long celebrations marking the 100th birthday of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independent Bangladesh, get underway throughout the country on Tuesday.
Bangabandhu’s birth centenary will also be celebrated all over the world in line with the initiative of Unesco.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lead the nation in observing Mujib Borsho, or Mujib Year, the year-long celebration of the birth centenary.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the president of Awami League, is scheduled to place wreaths at Bangabandhu’s portrait at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on Dhanmondi Road No 32 in Dhaka in the morning.
On this day in 1920, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born to Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and Sayera Khatun in Tungipara of Gopalganj, then a sub-district of Faridpur.
The day is a public holiday and is also being observed as National Children’s Day, as Bangabandhu enjoyed spending time with children on his birthday.
The president and prime minister have issued separate messages to mark the occasion.
They will pay homage to Bangabandhu by placing wreaths at his mausoleum at Tungipara and offer special prayers.
Pre-recorded speeches of the president and the prime minister will be broadcast via national hookups in the evening since the Mujib Borsho programs were curtailed to avoid any mass gathering due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangabandhu's fight for an independent Bangladesh
Nicknamed Khoka, Bangabandhu got involved in politics in his adolescence, and was arrested for the first time as an eighth grader of Gopalganj Mission School for joining the movement against British rule.
He founded the Chhatra League in 1948 and was instrumental in the founding of the Awami Muslim League, which later became the Awami League, in 1949.
Through his dynamic leadership, Bangabandhu organized the Bangali nation in the struggle against exploitation and repression by Pakistani rulers between 1947 and 1971.
On March 7, 1971, he delivered the historic speech that inspired Bangalis in their movement against subjugation and subordination by West Pakistan, declaiming, “Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our independence.”
A few weeks later, in the early hours of March 26, he declared Bangladesh’s independence before being arrested by the Pakistani occupation army. The movement culminated in the emergence of independent Bangladesh through a nine-month Liberation War in 1971.
On returning from imprisonment in Pakistan after liberation, Mujib began rebuilding the war-ravaged state.
On August 15, 1975, the great leader, along with most of his family members, was assassinated by a disgruntled group of army men.
Salient features of the birth centenary observance
From Tuesday till March 26, 2021, the whole nation will mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation through various programs.
Additionally, under the supervision of Unesco, the entire world will celebrate the centenary.
Through the celebrations by the United Nations, the history of Bangabandhu’s long struggle and his great sacrifice for the nation and the people of Bangladesh will be projected before the world.
In Bangladesh, the celebrations will begin with fireworks at 8pm at Suhrawardy Udyan today, marking the moment of Bangabandhu’s birth.
Organizers of the centenary celebrations have selected Suhrawardy Udyan for the inauguration of the Mujib Year with fireworks, considering the site to be historic as Bangabandhu had at the place delivered his momentous March 7, 1971 speech leading to the Liberation War and eventual independence, said Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee chief coordinator Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury at a media briefing yesterday.
Chowdhury said the fireworks would be immediately followed by a nationwide broadcast of President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s addresses.
Earlier, the countdown for the celebration’s opening began on January 10, coinciding with Bangabandhu’s homecoming in 1972.
Although Bangladesh had earlier planned large-scale events to mark Mujib Year, the authorities later scaled down the inauguration fanfare by revising the schedule because of coronavirus.
Most of the programmes were made indoors to avoid public gatherings.
The original plan to organise the grand inaugural ceremony of the “Mujib Borsho,” or Mujib Year at the National Parade Ground in Dhaka has been postponed.
A number of heads of government of different countries, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were invited to join the March 17 ceremony.
However, they will be invited again when a fresh schedule is finalized, said officials, who added however that other programs would continue throughout the year on a small scale.
“People across the world can watch the inauguration program of Bangabandhu's birth centenary through television channels and online and social media platforms. The major part of the program will be broadcast as a recorded version to help people avoid mass gatherings,” said Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury.
He requested all TV channels of the country to telecast the program live.
The program will be concluded with a pixel-laser show, which will be broadcast live from the south plaza of the National Parliament. The committee has named the whole program "Muktir Mohanayok - The great hero of freedom"
Responding to a question on whether the PM would attend the event, Naser Chowdhury said it had not been decided yet.
The event will also include a speech by Bangladesh President M Abdul Hamid.
There will be a broadcast of a recorded poem recitation by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, written by her sister and daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Rehana.
Responding to a question on whether there would be any live appearance by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he declined to make any comments save only to say that disclosing the details now would lead to people losing their interest.
The government also cancelled all kinds of programs at schools for celebrating the Mujib year. This year, there will be no Shishu Samabesh (congregation of children) in schools.
However, teachers will organise tree plantation programs by avoiding mass gatherings at the school premises.
Different socio-cultural and political organisations from the grassroots to national levels, ministries and divisions have drawn up programmes to celebrate the birth centenary inaugural.
The Awami League will celebrate the day through floral wreath laying, special prayers at religious institutions, giving food to underprivileged people and making fireworks, said AL general Secretary Obaidul Quader.
The national flag will be hoisted atop Bangabandhu Bhaban in Dhanmondi and at all party offices at 6:30am, Quader told reporters on Sunday.
Every religious institute, including mosques, temples, churches and pagodas, will hold special prayers.
The Dhaka City (North) Awami League will distribute special food at Karail slum of Banani while the Dhaka city (South) unit will distribute food at Baitul Mukarram mosque.
At 8pm, the party will release fireworks at 23 Bangabandhu Avenue and also at Dhanmondi Road 32.
