Bangladesh is preparing to observe the historic March 7 in a befitting manner, commemorating the landmark speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, touted as an indirect declaration of the independence.
The ruling Awami League (AL) has taken elaborate programme to observe the day in a befitting manner. It will hoist national and party flags atop Bangabandhu Bhaban and party offices at 6:30am, the party said in a press release on Wednesday (March 6).
AL leaders and supporters will place wreaths at Bangabandhu’s portrait on the premises of Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi at 7am.
A discussion will be held at AL’s Dhaka District Office in the city’s Tejgaon at 4pm. Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the discussion.
AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged leaders and workers of the party and its associate bodies and the people to observe the day with due respect, according to state news agency.
On March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu, the architect of independent Bangladesh, in his historic address at the then Race Course, directed the freedom-loving Bangalees for waging a decisive struggle against the then Pakistan occupation forces.
“Turn every house into a fortress, resist the enemy with everything you have … Having mastered the lesson of sacrifice, we shall give more blood. God willing [Inshallah], we shall free the people of this land,” Bangabandhu said.
It inspired the Bengalees to prepare for a war of independence. Bangabandhu’s March 7 speech has been selected as one of the most rousing and inspirational wartime speeches in the last 2,500 years. The dynamic speech has changed the course of the country’s history.
The Liberation War began 18 days later when the Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ against unarmed Bangalee civilians, intellectuals, students, politicians, and armed personnel on the night of 25 March 1971.
On October 30, 2017, UNESCO recognised the historic speech as part of the world’s documentary heritage as it inspired the Bangalees to prepare for the War of Liberation in 1971.
It has been included in the Memory of the World International Register, a list of the world’s important documentary heritage maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO.
In the 19-minute extempore speech from 4:23 pm before millions of people of former East Pakistan, Bangabandhu in unequivocal terms said, “We spilled our blood … we are ready to shed more blood, the people of the country shall be freed, Inshallah!”
“The struggle this time is a struggle for emancipation, the struggle this time is a struggle for independence,” Bangabandhu declared in a thunderous voice at the rally.
During his deliberations amid thunderous slogans and applause, he also made a fervent appeal to the roaring people from all walks of life to make preparations for armed struggle against the tyranny, exploitation, subjugation and deprivation by the Pakistani military junta with whatever they possessed and transformed every house into a fortress.
Bangabandhu’s March 7 speech has been selected as one of the most rousing and inspirational wartime speeches in the last 2,500 years. The dynamic speech has changed the course of the country’s history.
At the instruction of Bangabandhu, the Bangalees fought bravely during the nine-month-old war and ultimately liberated Bangladesh from the clutches of the Pakistani occupation forces on Dec 16, 1971, with the assistance of the allied Indian forces.
