Birth Centenary: The shepherd of independence

It was a spring evening on March 17, 1920.

In the stillness of the evening that enveloped the sleepy village of Tungipara in Gopalganj subdivision, a baby boy was born, illuminating the humble family of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and Sheikh Sayera Khatun.

Adoringly called "Khoka" by his beloved parents, this little boy became the undisputed leader of Bangalees half a century later, leading his people, oppressed and exploited, to freedom and making possible the birth of an independent and sovereign country -- Bangladesh.

That Khoka is none but the greatest Bangalee of a thousand years, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose birth centenary the nation has been celebrating over the last year.

Bangabandhu was such an extraordinary political visionary and a charismatic leader that describing this man and his role in the creation of the new state in a few words is a daunting task.

His leadership qualities, indomitable spirit, enormous courage, tireless dedication and unrelenting struggle for the poor and the downtrodden made him not only an iconic leader but a legend that lives on undaunted for the country.

An extraordinary orator with a strong personality and indomitable aura, Bangabandhu will always be that towering figure with the unequalled capacity to mesmerise with words and inspire the country's people to dream of an independent "Sonar Bangla".

In the collective memory, Bangabandhu will always be etched as the towering figure under whose magnificent shadow Bangladesh became a sovereign country.

Throughout his 55 years of life, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman dedicated every ounce of his energy, his actions, the entirety of his thoughts and emotions to one single dream – the betterment of his people.

From the rural environs of Gopalganj to the urban settings of Kolkata, he was always connected with the masses, inquiring about their welfare.

Bangabandhu showed signs of being a people's leader when he distributed rice to the famine-stricken people from his father's stockpile, without his father's knowledge.

In the coming years, he grew up to be the leader he was meant to be, and steered his nation to its most glorious moment.

Bangabandhu's political life began as a humble activist while he was still a student.

After passing matriculation from Gopalganj Missionary School, he was admitted to Islamia College in Calcutta and got involved in active politics. Having completed his studies from the college in 1947, he took admission in law at Dhaka University. However, his active involvement in politics led to his expulsion in 1948.

It was also in 1948 that he went to jail, twice. That was but the beginning of a political career that would lead to innumerable spells in incarceration for the future founder of Bangladesh.

In fact, during his lifetime, he spent nearly a fourth of his time, or 4,682 days, in prison.

By 1954, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had transformed himself into an activist politician, thanks to his involvement in the formation of the Awami Muslim League in June 1949.

In the provincial elections of March 1954, the Awami League played a pioneering role in the creation of the Jukto Front.

Following Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy's death in 1963, Bangabandhu revived the Awami League in January 1964. It was a move which clearly demonstrated his desire to mould the party along the lines he thought would turn it into a voice of the Bangalee masses.

In February 1966, he announced the Six-Point programme of regional autonomy at a conference of Pakistan's opposition parties in Lahore.

In May that year, he was arrested under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. While in prison, he was charged, in January 1968, with conspiracy to break up Pakistan through what was called the Agartala Conspiracy Case.

At the height of the Agartala conspiracy trial in 1968, he coolly told a Western journalist that the Pakistani authorities would not be able to keep him incarcerated for more than six months.

He was freed in seven months.

A mass upsurge forced the withdrawal of the case on February 22, 1969. The next day, at a huge rally at the then Race Course Maidan, Bangabandhu was officially honoured by a grateful Bangalee nation as Bangabandhu -- Friend of Bengal.

Bangabandhu led the Awami League to a decisive victory in Pakistan's first general elections in December 1970.

However, as the Yahya Khan regime and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto began to conspire against the Awami League to deny it the right to form a government at the centre, Bangabandhu went before the nation on March 7, 1971 and delivered what clearly was the finest speech of his career.

He called the struggle one of emancipation and independence. His speech changed the course of the history of the struggle for independence and gave millions of Bangalees a new sense of direction.

As the Pakistan army launched its genocide on March 25, 1971, Bangabandhu declared Bangladesh's independence early on March 26. He was arrested soon afterwards by the army and flown to West Pakistan, to be put on trial on charges of treason.

After a trial in-camera, he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal in early December 1971. An all-out guerrilla war began against the oppressive Pakistani regime and victory was achieved on December 16, 1971. It was his political inspiration and moral persuasion that made the masses give their lives for the cause.

Pakistan's defeat in Bangladesh and the emergence of the Bangalee nation saw him return home a hero on January 10, 1972.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had just fulfilled his life's dream of freeing his people and giving them an independent country before he was assassinated, along with most of his family members, in a bloody coup in the pre-dawn hours of August 15, 1975.

On the occasion of his 101st birthday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu, gave a message paying homage to the Father of the Nation.

In her message, she wrote, "The key aim of the long political life of this world leader who had keen memory and farsighted vision was to liberate the Bangalee nation from the chains of subjugation, and ensure a developed life by freeing people from the curse of hunger, poverty and illiteracy.

"Bangabandhu was not only a leader for the Bangalees, he was also the leader in establishing rights and emancipation of all oppressed, exploited and deprived people of the world," she said.