Suranjit tells Khaleda to make a fresh beginning by observing Bangabandhu’s death anniversary

Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta has asked BNP chief Khaleda Zia to make a new beginning to further the ‘politics of understanding’.

Speaking at an event in Dhaka on Friday, he said there would be an immensely positive impact on current politics if Khaleda were to ‘collectively’ observe Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s death anniversary instead of celebrating her birthday on that date.

“Let’s now make a new beginning,” he said, directing the remark at the former prime minister.
 
The nation’s founding father was murdered with most members of his family on Aug 15, 1975. 
 
The BNP chairperson had made it a point to celebrate her birthday on that date, although she appears to have a different date of birth on record.

Sengupta, the ruling party’s Advisory Council member, said Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam had spoken to the media editors to find a way to observe the death anniversary ‘collectively’.
 
Sengupta sought Khaleda’s ‘cooperation’ and requested her to refrain from observing what he described as a ‘false’ birthday.
 
He said her joining the observation of Aug 15 as Bangabandhu’s death anniversary would greatly influence politics.
 
“With that, we will take another step in the march towards democracy and move ahead with the politics of understanding leaving behind a politics of hostility.”
 
He said, “We will find a ground of understanding to keep the spirit of the Liberation War and independence untarnished.”
 
Former minister Sengupta applauded BNP for what he said was its return to democratic and peaceful politics from the ‘politics of petrol and crude bombs’.
 
He hoped the BNP would now step back from the ‘politics of confusion’ to continue on that path by not observing Aug 15 as the chairperson’s birthday.