Reminiscing Bangabandhu

August 15, 1975 stains our nation's calendar pitilessly. On this day, the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed along with his family members, save two, by military adventurers abetted by self-seeking unconscionable politicians. The gory event exploded on that fateful morning at 32 Dhanmondi traumatised the entire nation beyond measure. It left a deep emotional scar in nation's psyche that will never be effaced from memory. It was a distortion in the evolution of constitutional norms and practices in the nascent democratic polity of Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu's abrupt removal from the political scene, nay from nation's life, was engineered to disconnect people from his ideals and the mission of building the nation on the spirit of the liberation war.
Bangabandhu's life was shaped by push and pull of events in an inevitable way. The importance of his Tungipara upbringing cannot be overstated. He was raised to love his people, to protect and defend their rights and never to bow down to exploitation and injustices. He decided early in life to devote his social and political gifts and his extraordinary capacity for hard work to the cause of his people. His impassioned interest in the political process manifested at every stage of his life right from his school days.
He exacted an assurance from the then Chief Minister of Bengal Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Huq to redress the grievances of his village school. He was endowed with the capacity to keep focused while living in the eye of many storms and had exceptional understanding of the political intricacies obtaining in the country.
Bangabandhu's debut in governance as the provincial minister for commerce, labour and industries afforded him a unique opportunity to get the first-hand knowledge of the exploitation of the Bengalees by the Pakistani rulers since Partition. They trampled on the dissent ruthlessly and laid waste to the province's economy in a calculative manner. It reinforced his conviction that liberation was the only option left for the Bengalees if they were to survive honourably in the comity of nations.
His inauguration of the freedom-card in the guise of the Six-Point charter of demands in 1966 had changed the country's political complexion radically which finally culminated in the liberation of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became Bangabandhu and the Father of the Nation as Bangladesh emerged on the world map as a sovereign nation in 1971 from a classic war of liberation in contemporary history.
In one of his official tours to Faridpur, Bangabandhu asked me, his Press officer, to accompany him on his inspection visit to the district jail. While going round the jail compound in brisk steps he suddenly stopped before the cell where he was imprisoned for voicing public grievances and protesting against repression during Pakistan days.
He was visibly moved. Later, he evocatively told of his imprisonment in that cell. However, he did not forget to make enquiries of the employees who had served him during his jail term. The cell obviously calls for preservation as a heritage site.
A gifted speaker, Bangabandhu always sparkled in extempore speech, and his baritone voice was a bonus for his audience. Initially, I showed him my copies but later it was not needed.
The room which Bangabandhu occupied in the secretariat was rather small for ministerial accommodation. It's decor was simple, it had a few wooden chairs, a sofa and a secretariat table. His one-door room had two windows and was located on the first floor of the secretariat canteen (then known as Shahbagh canteen). Till date, the room is unmarked and unrecorded.
The building where Bangabandhu was killed is a historic landmark - 32 Dhanmondi is our pride, a part of our national heritage.
Bangabandhu's  path to nation's stewardship was not necessarily linear. Despite his long imprisonment and heavy odds that he encountered in his tumultuous political career, he always emerged as a warm, earthly person whose lusty embrace of life even his captors could not take from him.
Notably, Bangabandhu's  Unfinished Memoirs is the most seminal document for our understanding of the Father of the Nation. An authoritative biography will, however, be a significant contribution in that realm. Hopefully, the present government headed by Sheikh Hasina shall undertake this overdue agenda at the earliest.
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