She was awarded with the honorary D Lit degree at the event in Asansol on Saturday.
The degree was awarded to Hasina for her role in creating a democratic society free of exploitation and discrimination, for empowering women, alleviating poverty and promoting socio-economic development, said Vice Chancellor Sadhan Chakraborty.
The event was part of West Bengal’s celebration of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s 119th birthday on Saturday. Bangladesh celebrated the birth of its national poet on Friday.
“It’s significant for me because I have been able to visit the great poet’s place of birth on his birthday and have received an honorary ‘Doctor of Literature’ degree from the university named after him,” she said.
“I believe this honour is not for me alone, but for all the people of Bangladesh.”
She dedicated the degree to ‘all Bangalees’.
Hasina compared the arrival of rebel poet Nazrul on the literary scene to that of a comet blazing through the sky of Bangla literature. He has left behind a golden legacy, she said.
“He was more than a poet. He was an essayist, a songwriter, a singer, a lyricist, a musician, a playwright, a journalist, an editor and a soldier. He was a man of prodigious talents.”
She also highlighted his contributions to the literature of both Muslim and Hindu Bangalees.
“Bengal may be divided,” she said. “But Nazrul and Rabindranath cannot be. They both belong to both Bengals.”
Funded by the Bangladesh government, the building has a 450-seat theatre, the largest at the university.
The building also houses a library of books on Bangladesh and its relations with India as well as a collection of historical and cultural artifacts of Bangladesh.
The two sides of the building’s entrance have murals of Bangabandhu and Rabindranath.
The inauguration event was also attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two prime ministers met for bilateral meetings following the building’s inauguration.
In 1972, Kazi Nazrul Islam was granted Bangladeshi citizenship and declared the national poet of Bangladesh. The poet was laid to rest on the Dhaka University campus after his death in 1976.
Though he was born in Charulia, Nazrul travelled all across Bengal, spent a portion of his childhood in Mymensingh and lived in Cumilla, Chattogram, Sirajganj and Faridpur.
Following the convocation, the prime minister returned to Kolkata. She visited the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Museum and met local MPs at a courtesy meeting before returning to Dhaka on Saturday night.