Joy takes a dig at Khaleda

Celebrating one's birthday when it is not when you were born -- and if that happens to be the day your greatest national leader was killed with much of his family!

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy says BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia displays real bad taste by celebrating her birthday on August 15, the day of the death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Remembering the day when he lost most of his maternal family, Bangabandhu’s grandson Joy on Thursday morning posted on his facebook fan page, “It is also really sad that Khaleda Zia chooses to spend her birthday on this day every year.”

“She [Khaleda] has several different birthdays listed on various official documents, none of which is August 15th,” Joy said, while asking, “What kind of person does this?”

Khaleda Zia, the three-time Prime Minister, was born in 1945 and turns 69 this year.

But her real date of birth is not clear.

Khaleda has been observing 15th August as her birthday since 1991, when she became Prime Minister for the first time.

Born to Eskander Majumder and Toiyba Majumder in 1945 at Feni's Sonagazi, Khaleda, nicknamed Putul, spent her childhood in Dinajpur.

According to her marriage certificate, her birthday is Sept 5, 1945 and in her first passport it is Aug 19, 1946. She put her date of birth as Aug 9, 1944 for registration of the matriculation exams.

Khaleda has been criticised for celebrating her birthday on a day when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, nation’s founding father, was brutally murdered in 1975.

On Aug 15, 1975, the architect of Bangladesh's freedom was assassinated along with most members of his family by a group of disgruntled army officers at his Dhanmondi residence.

Awami League believes Khaleda husband's General Ziaur Rehman's role as 'mysterious' during that bloody coup.

However, Joy in his facebook post on Thursday remembered his earliest memories with his uncle Sheikh Russel, Bangabandhu's youngest child.

The Prime Minister’s only son wrote, “I remember my family who were murdered; my Nana (grandfather), Nani (grandmother), uncles and their wives.”

“One of my earliest memories is of annoying my Uncle Russell. He was only a few years older than me and I would steal one of his toys and run and hide behind by Nani.”

“He would chase me and my Nani would scold him, making him cry. I was 4 years old and he was 10,” Joy recalled.

The others killed on that fateful night 38 years ago included Bangabandhu’s wife Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, younger brother Sheikh Abu Naser, nephew Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni and brother-in-law Abdur Rab Serniyabat, Moni’s wife Begum Arju Moni and Serniabat’s daughter ‘Baby’, son ‘Arif’ and grandson Sukanto Babu.

The day has been observed as the National Mourning Day, a public holiday since then.