Maintain distinctive characters of Bangla, says PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid emphasis on maintaining the distinctive characters of Bangla and the country's culture and tradition while moving ahead to cope with the global pace, reports UNB.

"We need to make sure we must not forget our language, culture and tradition. We may have to learn many languages, many things and use newer technologies, but we'll have to uphold our own distinctive characters. We can move ahead maintaining all this," she said on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a function marking the distribution of Ekushey Padak-2018 organised by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Prime Minister handed over the Ekushey Padak, the second highest civilian awards in Bangladesh, to the awardees at a function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

AZM Takiullah (posthumous) and Prof Dr Mirza Mazharul Islam got the award for their role in the language movement while Sheikh Sadi Khan, Sujoy Sham, Indra Mohan Rajbanshi, Khurshid Alam and Motiul Haque Khan won for music.

Minu Haque and Humayun Faridi (posthumous) got the Padak for dance and acting respectively while Nikhil Sen, Kalidas Karmakar, and Golam Mostofa got the award for drama, fine arts and photography.

Ranesh Moitro and Professor Julekha Haque (posthumous) and Dr Mainul Islam won the award for journalism, research and economics respectively while the government announced the name of Ilias Kanchan for social work. Syed Manzoorul Islam, Saiful Islam Khan (poet Hayat Saef), Subrata Barua, Robiul Hussain and Khalekdad Chowdhury got the award for language and literature.

Each recipient got a gold medal, a certificate and a cheque of Tk 0.2 million.

She said the Bangalee, as a nation, has many things to be proud of. "We've to preserve those, and publicise those for the future generation."

Sheikh Hasina said this should be done so that no one of the Bengalee nation could forget the tradition and culture of the country. "We must uphold the distinctive characters of our culture, tradition and heritage."

She said the Bangalee as a nation has earned everything through struggles and huge sacrifices. "We must uphold these achievements."

The Prime Minister said the new generation must know the nation's glorious history to be prepared to face the future challenges as Bangladesh will never bow down to others.

Hasina also reminded the people of the country about the ghosts of Pakistani occupational forces as they are still there in the country. "They couldn't forget their masters. That's why there've been blows to our tradition, language and political rights. We had to fight that repeatedly," she said. After returning to power in 2009, Hasina said her government has taken numerous projects and programmes for the overall development of the country and the fate of people.

"That's why we've regained our dignity that was lost after 1975, we'll gain further in the global arena keeping up that dignity," she said.

The Prime Minister mentioned that she delivers her address in the UN General Assembly in Bangla every year following the footprint of Bangabandhu.