The historic March 7 speech is a fiery address that our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered at a mammoth rally in the then "Race Course Maidan", now Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital Dhaka in 1971.
Commemorating Bangabandhu’s landmark speech, the grateful nation is set to observe the day in a befitting manner today (Sunday).
We believe the appeal of the historic March 7 speech is everlasting as it contains the electrifying messages; it would continue to motivate the deprived, exploited and freedom-loving people of the world in general.
We must say that the speech was not only a call for the Bangalee nation to fight for freedom but also was a direction for all nations. The fiery speech immediately united and inspired the Bangalees irrespective of caste, creed and religion to prepare for the ultimate War of Independence. It also transformed the country’s 7.5 crore people into a people's army, encouraging them to fight till their last blood for the independence of our motherland.
Our pledge on historic March 7 should
be to take Bangladesh to a higher position in
the world stage and turn it into a safe
and peaceful land for the future generation
Imbued with the spirit of Bangabandhu's March 7 speech people became overwhelmed, forging decisive rock-solid unity to get rid of injustice, deprivation, exploitation and torture in 1971. It was also the declaration of our independence apart from the inspiration of our Liberation War. During the nine-month bloody war, Bangabandhu was in a Pakistani jail, but his speech continued inspiring the freedom fighters to fight against the Pakistani occupation forces in the battlefields throughout the then East Pakistan.
After a nine-month-long bloodstained War of Liberation, on December 16 in 1971 Bangladesh was born as an independent country at the cost of supreme sacrifice of three million people and the honour of nearly half a million women.
In the 19-minute extempore speech from 4.23 pm before the people, Sheikh Mujib in unequivocal terms said, "We spilled our blood…we are ready to shed more blood, the people of the country shall be freed, Inshallah!"
"Ebarer sangram amader muktir sangram, ebarer sangram swadhinatar sangram" (The struggle this time is for our emancipation, the struggle this time is for our independence), Bangabandhu said.
Our Independence Day and the Victory Day celebrations have reached a new height following UNESCO's recognition of Bangabandhu’s historic March 7 Speech as a part of the world’s documentary heritage on October 30 in 2017.
Therefore, our pledge on historic March 7 should be to take Bangladesh to a higher position in the world stage and turn it into a safe and peaceful land for the future generation.