No more distortion of history: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said no one can distort the country's history and play ducks and drakes with the fate of the nation anymore.

Many generations read and learnt distorted history. No one would be allowed to do this anymore, she said.

The Prime Minister was addressing a discussion meeting arranged by Bangladesh Awami League marking the Independence Day and National Day at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

Sheikh Hasina said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gifted independence to the nation, but his name had been erased from the history of Liberation War and that of the Language Movement.

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She said the truth can never be hidden with lies for long as it gets revealed finally.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League chief, said her government vowed to establish the country as hunger- and poverty-free 'Sonar Bangladesh' when the country will celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu in 2020 and the Golden Jubilee of the country's independence in 2021.

Mentioning that Awami League is the only political party that properly serves the nation, she called upon its every activist and leader to work for the country being imbued with the spirit of patriotism. "To build Bangladesh, we'll have to strengthen the organisation (AL)," Hasina said.

In her speech, the Prime Minister focused on the history of long struggles of the Bangalee nation, led by Bangabandhu, starting from the Language Movement to the Liberation War in 1971.

Describing the exploitation and oppression of the Pakistani rulers against Bangalees, she said, the Father of the Nation had advanced step by step to free them from exploitation.

About the historic 7th March speech, Hasina said Bangabandhu had given necessary directives to all concerned specifying their respective responsibilities to liberate the country.

After the independence, Bangabandhu was advancing the country to achieve economic emancipation overcoming the conspiracies of the anti-liberation and defeated forces and their cohorts, she said.

For that purpose, Hasina said, Bangabandhu had brought all, including political parties, government officials, army, navy and air force members, under a single platform to establish national unity.

Criticising the successive governments who ruled the country for 21 years after the assassination of the Father of the Nation in 1975, she said they had played ducks and drakes with the fate of people and an elite group had been created that always flattered the military dictators.

"The anti-liberation forces, who had ruled the country directly or indirectly for 21 years, did nothing for the improvement of the socio-economic status of the country. They rather indulged in making money and massing wealth using power," the Prime Minister said.

Posing a question, she said how democracy can exist in the country when anyone governs the country with the martial law ordinance and imposes curfew every night. "The people of the country got the true taste of democracy when Awami League came to power after the 21 years," she said, adding that Bangladesh is marching forward to attain economic emancipation.

In the last 10 years, Bangladesh has become a role model for development in the world, she added.

Mentioning AL's contributions to the struggles for liberation and establishing democratic rights, Hasina said Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaur Rahman, HM Ershad and even Khaleda Zia tried to annihilate Awami League, but the party is deeply rooted among the people of Bangladesh.

Pointing at BNP, she said the political party which was created overnight grabbing state's power will find no soil under its feet when it is not in power.

Chaired by Sheikh Hasina, the meeting was addressed, among others, by AL advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu, AL presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, MP, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, MP, Mohammad Nasim, MP, Ramesh Chandra Sen, MP and Muhammad Faruk Khan, MP.

AL Publicity and Publication Secretary and Information Minister Hasan Mahmud and its Deputy Publicity Secretary Aminul Islam jointly conducted the discussion.