Bangabandhu, who led Bangladesh to rise from the rubble of a war

Bangladesh has remembered the tremendous task Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman faced to build a nation torn by war while ensuring food and other humanitarian needs of the 75 million people after leading the country to independence.

In the work to build his dream ‘Sonar Bangla’ or ‘Golden Bengal’, he focused on infrastructure development to expansion of trade to creation of jobs to increasing export to earning foreign currency, according to a discussion.

He took Bangladesh’s economic growth to 7.4 percent in a short period after independence, it was said at the programme.

Again, Bangladesh plunged into darkness as Bangabandhu was assassinated in one of the bloodiest political massacres in the world. 

Finally, the country has become eligible to graduate to a developing nation from a least developed country when his daughter Sheikh Hasina is heading the government.

And Bangladesh is celebrating 50 years of independence along with the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujib.

The fifth day of the 10-day celebrations on the twin occasions at the National Parade Ground on Sunday was themed on Bangabandhu’s role in rebuilding the nation after the 1971 Liberation War.

Obaidul Quader, general secretary of the Awami League and road transport and bridges minister in Hasina's cabinet, and Prof Syed Anwar Husain, a former faculty at Dhaka University’s history department, took part in the discussion during the first session.

Hasan Mahmud, joint general secretary of the ruling party and the government’s information minister, moderated it.

Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, the king of Jordan, delivered a video message at the programme.

“Bangabandhu did not leave an area of development untouched,” Quader said, “In a nutshell, Bangabandhu laid the foundation for everything which is happening in the changed Bangladesh today under the leadership of his daughter Sheikh Hasina.”

Prof Anwar described how Bangabandhu planned the impossible with the people as the only resource at the time. The founding father began implementing the plan successfully before his assassination just four years after independence.

Ayman Safadi, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Jordan, said on behalf of Abdullah II that the king is confident that Bangladesh will make more progress in future.

 In the cultural function of the programme, a title animation video was exhibited along with performance by Chinese artists. Bangladeshi artists made choreographic presentations. Child artists also performed at the programme.

A drama was staged on Bangabandhu’s days in a Pakistani jail. It depicted Bangabandhu’s uncompromising character – how he refused to bow down to Pakistan.  

In Chattogram, renowned Indian dancer and actress Mamata Shankar presented the dance drama “Amritasya Putro”.

The group, Mamata Shankar Dance Company, also danced to a number of songs, including 'Banglar Mati Banglar Jal' and 'Ekti Mujiborer Theke'.

The Assistant High Commission of India in Chattogram organised the event in association with the High Commission in Dhaka and Indian Council for Cultural Relations. 

On the sixth day on Monday, President Md Abdul Hamid and Hasina will attend the programme. Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari will also join them.

Earlier, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih visited Bangladesh to join the celebrations.