The nation on Tuesday observed the historic Homecoming Day of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a befitting manner. On this august occasion we greet the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who is also the President of the ruling Awami League.
On May 17 in 1981, she returned to the country after a long exile. Boarding on an aircraft of the Indian Airlines, Sheikh Hasina reached the then Kurmitola Airport in capital Dhaka from the Indian capital of New Delhi via Kolkata. On her return at the airport at that time she said she returned to the country not to become a leader of the Awami League, rather to participate in the struggle for freedom by staying beside the people. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 and his two daughters-- Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana --- luckily escaped the carnage as they stayed abroad. In a national council session of the Awami League on February 14, 15 and 16 in 1981, Sheikh Hasina was elected as party president in her absence and then she returned to the country on May 17.
There is no
alternative but to strengthen
the hands of Sheikh Hasina in order to keep up the
present development
spree across the country
With the return of Sheikh Hasina to the country, the spirit of Liberation War, the values of independence and democracy also started returning to the country. Her home return is a milestone in the country’s history of democracy. It was not only the individual return of Bangabandhu’s daughter. As soon as Sheikh Hasina returned home, she started working hard and waged tough movement to restore the country’s democracy. In consequence, the autocratic government collapsed through the 1990 mass movement.
After the independence, Awami League was in power around three and a half years before the assassination of Bangabandhu and five years from 1996 to 2001 under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina and since 2009 to present.
Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina took the helm of Awami League after returning to the country in 1981. Since then she has been leading the party for three decades and formed the government three times side by side with waging different democratic movements. In order to turn the country into a happy and prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla’, Sheikh Hasina has taken far-sighted programmes like ‘Vision 2041’ and ‘Delta Plan-2100’ in line with the successful implementation of ‘Vision 2021’.
It needs to be mentioned that Bangladesh Nationalist Party founder military dictator Ziaur Rahman had damaged the country's Constitution severely after seizing state power in an unconstitutional and illegal way and imposed Indemnity Ordinance to safeguard the killers of Bangabandhu and four national leaders. Since then repeated attempts were made to remove the name of Bangabandhu and destroy the spirit of Liberation War, the values of independence and democracy from history. Also, there have been as many as 19 murder attempts on Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina. People believe the country’s independence, sovereignty and democracy are safe is in the hands of Bangabandhu’s daughter. There is no alternative but to strengthen the hands of Sheikh Hasina in order to keep up the present development spree across the country.