Bangabandhu Sheik Mujibur Rahman was one of the few student leaders who played a significant role in Bangladesh. He is an freedom fighter. He fight for country. Bangabandhu Sheik Mujibur Rahman delivered his iconic speech for freedom. He is a hero of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu and the Language Movement

1. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the few students leaders who played a significant role in turning the language movement into a mass movement. As a student leader, he was the central figure in organizing mass gatherings, rallies and strikes for raising awareness against the discriminatory language policy of Pakistan.

2. The language movement started when the Governer General of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, declared "Urdu and only Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan" on 19 March 1948 at the Racecourse Maidan while addressing a public gathering. He again uttered the some on 24 March 1948 at the University of Dhaka during his convocation speech. The students instantly protested against this announcement vehemently.

3. It was the time when young Mujib started organizing the student front of Muslim League in East Pakistan. He was proud of his Bangali identity and very active to initiate strikes and protests against the language policy of Pakistan government.

4. Later, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Nazimuddin echoed the statement of Mr. Jinnah on 26 January, 1952. Mujib was in prison during this time due to his political activism and admitted to the Dhaka Medical College under police custody.

5. He stayed in constant touch with other leaders directly engaged in the movement to make Bangla the state language. His directions from prison led the movement to a success. On 14 February, he started a hunger strike there.

6. During a general strike on 21 February, 1952 the protesting students tried to defy Section 144 imposed by the government. The police opened fire and killed a number of students including Abdus Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar and others.

7. In his autobiography, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman says, "We decided in the meeting in my room to observe 21 February as State Language Day and to form a committee that day to conduct the movement to establish Bengali as the state language."

The Historic 7 March Speech

1. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered his most iconic speech at the Rececourse Madian (now Suhrawardy Udyan) on 7 March 1971. He called on his fellow cuntryman to get ready for independence.

2. On that day, a millon people gathered there to listen to their great leader. It was this speech that encouraged the freedom-seeking Bangaless to prepare for the liberation war.

3. In 19-minute speech has been recognized UNESCO as one of the world's most important documentary heritages. UNESCO added the speech to the Memory of the World Register as a documentary heritage on 30 October 2017, giving it an legendary status.

4. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO announced the decision at its headquarters in Paris.

5. UNESCO official website says that " The speech effectively declared the independent of Bangladesh. The speech was extempore and there was no written script."

6. He started his speech with these words, "Today, I appear before you with a heavy heart. You know everything and understand as well. We tried with our lives. Today the people of Bengal want freedom, the people of Bengal want to survive, and the people of Bengal went to have their rights."

Declaration of Independence

(Massage)- "They may be my last massage. From today Bangladesh in indenpendent. I call upon the people of Bangladesh wherever you might be and with whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved. [ Massage embodying Declaration of Independence sent by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Chittagong shortly after midnight of 25th March, i.e. early hours of 26th March, 1971 for transmission throughout Bangladesh over the cx-EPR transmitter.] (Source: Bangladesh Swadhinata Juddho: Dalil Potro, volume-3, and The Constitution of Bangladesh.

1. Perhaps all of are familiar with Bangabandhu's historic speech on 7th March, 1971. In that speech he narrated the long history of repression and struggle of Bangaless for self-rule. There he narrated how the Pakistan rules exploited us and tried to stop our voice at the gun-point.

2. By the end of the speech he urged everyone to be prepared with whatever they had. He emphasized that our struggle was for liberty and independence. And finally, the declaration of independence came from Bangabandhu in the first hours of 26 March, 1971. Bangabandhu passed on this voice massage just before he was arrested by the Pakistai Army.

The Unfinished Memoirs

We all know Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a politician, who has many feathers in his crown. He is the leader of our struggle for independence. He declared independence on 26 March, 1971. He is the founder of Bangladesh. He is father of Bangladesh. He is the leader of oppressed people. He was and still is so popular, so dear, and so own to everyone that people passionately call him Bangabandhu as a writer! Yes, we have got some precious memories of Bangabandhu written by himself. He wrote that in Bangla which is available as Osamapto Atmojiboni. Written in the style of auto-biography, Bangabandhu unfolds some unknown aspects of his personal, political and family life in this book. The narration clearly shows why he has been Bangabandhu and why he is the best Bangalee in a thousand years. The following text is an excerpt taken from The Unfinished Memoirs, an English Book translation of the book.

People in the village that I visited would not only offer me refreshments, they would also offer me money and would be offended if I refused to take it. They insisted that I should utilize the money for my campaign.

I remember once how a very poor old woman had waiting for a few hours by her hut because she had told that I could be crossing by. When she finally met me, she held my hand and said, "Please come inside my hat because I would like you to sit inside it for a while." Holding on to her hand, I went in. There were a lot of people with me and yet she spread out a mat for all of us and gave me a bowl of milk, a paan leaf, and some coins. Handing me these things she said, "My dear son, please drink the milk and have the paan leaf and take the money, little thought it is, because that is all I have." Tears come to my eyes. I drink the milk but returned the coins, along with some more money, saying, "Your blessing are more than sufficient for me; they cannot be equated with money and I don't have enough to repay you. But she refused to take the coins and the money I gave her. Instead, she told me affectionately, " The prayers of the poor will be with you." When I left her hut my eyes were moist with tears. On that day, I promised myself that I would do nothing to betray my people.

(Taken from The Unfinished Memoirs-translated by Dr. Fakrul Alam)

Thank you very much for reading my article. I collected this article from Bangladesh History. I hope everyone will like this and remember "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. "

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