You cannot change history: Joy

“Dictators and frauds” have tried to rewrite the history of Bangladesh, but have not succeeded, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed has said.

Better known by his nickname, Joy made the remark in a Facebook status on the occasion of Mujibnagar Day.

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“The Awami League is rich with the history of Bangladesh. We led the Independence movement. Dictators and frauds have tried to rewrite our history books, but you cannot change history,” he said.

BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman at a recent party event in London claimed that Ziaur Rahman, his father and former military dictator who founded the party, was the first president of the country.

Two weeks later, at another event, he claimed that the nation’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the nation’s first “illegal prime minister.”

Different quarters have called Tarique’s statements an effort to distort history.

“Today is historic Mujibnagar Day. On this day the first cabinet of the government of Bangladesh took oath. The honourable Tajuddin Ahmed, father of MP Simin Hossain Rimi and former state minister and MP Sohel Taj, was sworn in as our first prime minister,” Joy said in his status.

“Bangabandhu was declared the first president. As he had been arrested by the Pakistani junta, in his absence honourable Syed Nazrul Islam, father of minister and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, was appointed the acting president,” he wrote.