Nation at 46

As we step into our 46th year of independence and celebrate our freedom, we bow our heads to all the freedom fighters known and unknown, who put up spontaneous resistance to the dastardly Pakistani forces not knowing what lay ahead. We recall the leadership of the Father of The Nation whose clarion call on 7th March coagulated the people, and also his able lieutenants under whose direction the nascent nation was guided through the nine-month long war. 

If economic emancipation and a pluralistic democratic dispensation were the twin objectives of our liberation struggle it becomes a day also of taking stock of what we have achieved and where we might have done better than we actually have. 

We can justifiably be proud of the progress made in the economy and agricultural sector. We have crossed the threshold of a low middle income country and are able to feed a population that has nearly tripled since 1971. Our social indicators and our efforts to reduce child mortality and empower women have elicited praise internationally, and we have ventured on one of the most ambitious projects - the Padma Bridge-on our own 

However, it is in the field of politics where fractious attitude has kept the people divided on national issues. Our democratic institutions remain vulnerable to extraneous pressure and if elections are the index of the political adulthood of a nation, then the recent union parishad elections would suggest that we have a long way to go.    

It cannot be lost on our leaders that whatever might be our shortcomings, those can only be overcome by shedding our differences and coming together on vital issues of national concern.