PM Sheikh Hasina’s 76th birthday today

The 76th birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of ruling Awami League, will be celebrated on Wednesday.

Sheikh Hasina, the eldest among the five children of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, was born at Tungipara in Gopalganj on September 28 in 1947.

The prime minister is now in the USA where she addressed the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) besides attending a host of other events.

AL and its affiliated and likeminded organisations will celebrate the day through various programmes focusing on her life and achievements.

The birthday celebration will be marked by discussions, doa and milad-mahfil and special prayers in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

Sheikh Hasina assumed office on 7 January, 2019, for the fourth time after her party-led grand alliance won the 11th parliamentary election held on December 30, 2018.

She served as prime minister for the first time in 1996-2001, second term in 2009-2013, and the third term in 2014-2018. Hasina served as the Leader of Opposition thrice.

Hasina spent much of her childhood in her birthplace Tungipara in Gopalganj. When Bangabandhu was elected a legislator, his family moved to Dhaka in 1954. She graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1973.

Having a chequered political career, Hasina was elected vice-president of the Students Union of the Government Intermediate Girls College when she contested as a candidate from the Students League.

Later, she served as secretary and then as president of the college unit of the Student League. She was also a member of the Students League at Dhaka University and became the secretary of the Rokeya Hall unit. She actively participated in all mass movements from her student life.

Bangabandhu, along with the members of his family, was brutally assassinated on the fateful night of August 15, 1975. Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived the carnage as they were in Germany at that time.

Hasina was unanimously elected as the president of Bangladesh Awami League in 1981 in her absence while she was in forced exile. She finally returned home on May 17, 1981, ending her six years in exile. She faced the wrath of the then rulers on her return as she launched a movement to restore democracy in the country. Hasina was detained time and again, and at least 22 attempts were made on her life.