Home ›› 03 Nov 2021 ›› Opinion
15th August and 3rd November are two infamous days that turned my family’s life upside down. I was just a baby at the time so completely oblivious to the darkness that fell upon the people of Bangladesh.
My parents were a very young couple, recently returned from London, United Kingdom with baby me in July 1975. Little did they know at the time, that the trajectory of theirs lives was about to change completely. After the killing of Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, we were all under house arrest and my grandfather was taken by some armed persons. My father, mother and me were the last people my grandfather had a meeting with. We had visited him in Dhaka Central Jail just a few days before the killing. My father told me later that, as we were leaving the jail and we were at the gates, suddenly my grandfather had run back towards us and took me into his arms and kissed me. My father said, his father had behaved as if this was going to be the last time, he saw us. Sadly, that was to be the case.
After the killings, because of mounting political pressure, my parents had to go to the United Kingdom. Everything had been taken away from us and they had very little resources, but my parents had the full responsibility of supporting the entire family. My father a 27 year old inexperienced lawyer, my mother a 22 year old graduate needed to find jobs fast. Overnight, their lives had changed. They became political and economic refugees in an unknown land with no family and friends. I was too small to really understand the struggle that was taking place around me, but being a mature adult now, I recognise that this was no simple feat.
At about the age of six I recall being told about my grandfather and his special bond and the loyalty he had towards Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As a little child, being told his grandfather was the prime minister of a country was surprising and confusing. My grandpa is a role model to me. My father mentioned to me that my grandpa only took his dinner on a pati (floor matt) as he always led a humble way of living. I decided from then onwards as a tribute to my grandpa I too will take my dinner sitting on a pati.
We had a very simple life and lived in a two bedroom house. At the time I didn’t realise that the activities in this tiny house would be a part of this huge movement to bring back democracy to our country. Our family life was centred around Awami League. My father worked full time and gave all his free time to political activities, so I hardly saw him.
Bangabandhu and the Four National leaders are a symbol of the sacrifice of every person in Bangladesh who fought for our today’s freedom. The importance of the future generations understanding the principles of the Father of the Nation is undoubtedly the only way we can preserve our freedoms. The digital revolution has given us so much information, but also fake news, which is diluting, polluting and misguiding the minds of the youth and sadly there is still today a concerted effort to carry out this propaganda against our real history by anti-Bangladesh groups.
Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina right now is representing the interest of our country at COP 26 to make sure Bangladesh has its say on the policies created on how best to protect our world and country from the climate crisis that is looming. I request everyone to ask themselves this question, “as one of the worst suffering countries of the climate crisis, if today we were not the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, could we have had a seat at this table?” Bengalis will forever be indebted to these great leaders. They shed their blood for our better
The writer is chairman Shaheed Captain M Mansur Ali Foundation
