Homecoming Day
Developing Bangladesh: PM says the glory came through struggles
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said Bangladesh has established itself as a developing country, defying numerous challenges and obstacles both from home and abroad.
“We’ve got established ourselves as a developing country. We’ve reached here overcoming so many hurdles both from home and abroad,” she said.
The Prime Minister said this in her introductory speech at the weekly Cabinet meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat. She joined it virtually from her official residence Ganobahban.
She vowed to build Bangladesh as ‘Golden Bangladesh’ as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“Bangladesh is now independent, and it’ll remain independent. We’ll build it as Golden Bangladesh of the Father of the Nation,” she reaffirmed.
Sheikh Hasina hoped that Bangladesh will advance further in the coming days from where it is now standing.
Talking about her 40th homecoming day, the Prime Minister said she returned to her homeland defying all the odds and obstacles.
“There were many restrictions…the then government wouldn’t allow me to return in any way, there’re various conspiracies against me,” she recalled.
Hasina said the war criminals, the trial of whom was started by Bangabandhu, was stopped and they were released, and even they were in power as the killers were given the indemnity. “I didn’t think anything…I just returned.”
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Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, said it crossed her mind at that time that the country’s independence must not be allowed to go in vain. “It has to be made meaningful. It’s also there in Sheikh Rehana’s mind.”
She expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the activists and leaders of the then Awami League who made her president in her absence.
Talking about the distortion of the country’s history, the Prime Minister said the real history was totally erased and distorted completely. “Now there’s a confidence no one will be able to temper the country’s history and erase it anymore.”
She expressed gratitude to the people of the country as well the leaders and activists of Awami League for this.
Today is the 40th homecoming day of Awami League President. On May 17, 1981, she returned home after a long exile.
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Boarding an aircraft of Indian Airlines, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina reached the then Kurmitola Airport here from the Indian capital of New Delhi via Kolkata at 4.30pm on the day.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 and his two daughters – Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana – luckily escaped it as they were abroad.
In a national council session of the Awami League on February 14-16, 1981, Sheikh Hasina was elected party president, giving the party a much-sought impetus.
"Hasina: A Daughter’s Tale" to be rescreened on May 17 by TV channels
Acclaimed both locally and globally, the docudrama titled "Hasina: A Daughter’s Tale", will be rescreened on BTV and BTV World at 3:30 pm on her Homecoming Day on May 17.
Some private television channels will also screen the visual.
On this day in 1981, Sheikh Hasina, now the Prime Minister, at the end of six years of waiting following her father - Bangabandhu's assassination, landed on the country whose flag and freedom owe to the leadership of her father.
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A phone call from the other end of the world transmitted the most nightmarish news to Sheikh Hasina, now the Prime Minister and Sheikh Rehana that their father, also the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his entire family was assassinated in Bangladesh.
That changed the course of their lives and also the course of the history of her land.
The ordeals, the ups and downs, and the turnaround Sheikh Hasina, came across since that moment on August 15, 1975, was narrated in her voice in the docudrama titled "Hasina: A Daughter’s Tale"directed by Piplu Khan.
Earlier, the film, produced by —Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Nasrul Hamid Bipu— two trustees of the Centre for Research and Information (CRI), was screened at Dhaka Lit Fest, Bangladesh Film Festival in Kolkata, and International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
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Video released marking Bangabandhu's Homecoming Day
A short video was released on Sunday paying tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marking his historic Homecoming Day.
Bangladesh Mission in New Delhi observes Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day
Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Friday observed Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day, paying rich tribute to the greatest Bangalee of all time.
The homecoming of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from a Pakistani jail on January 10, 1972 was the culmination of Bangladesh’s victory in the nine-month War of Liberation against Pakistani occupation forces.
Bangabandhu's Homecoming Day observed
People across Bangladesh observed the historic Homecoming Day of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman amid festivity and fervour on Friday.
Bangabandhu's Homecoming Day being observed
The historic Homecoming Day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is being observed across the country on Friday.
PM pays homage to Bangabandhu
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Friday paid rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of the Historic Homecoming Day of the architect of the country's independence.
Bangabandhu's Homecoming Day on Friday
The historic Homecoming Day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be observed on Friday.