A huge controversy has erupted in Bangladesh after the interim government announced the cancellation of eight national holidays on Wednesday. Among the abolished holidays is March 7, which commemorates the historic speech by Mujibur Rahman on the same day in 1971 where he informally declared Bangladesh’s independence against Pakistan.
The Awami League has strongly condemned the elimination of the eight holidays, accusing the Mohammed Yunus-led administration of conspiring to erase the legacy of Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Liberation War and all memories of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation.
March 17 holiday celebrating the birth anniversary of the first president of independent Bangladesh has been cancelled. The August 15 holiday, known as National Mourning Day, which marks the assassination of Mujibur Rahman and most of his family, including his wife and sons, in 1975, has also been done away with.
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Furthermore, the November 4 holiday, previously celebrated as National Constitution Day, has been taken down. Other cancelled holidays include the birth anniversaries of Mujibur Rahman’s wife, Begum Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and their sons, Captain Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Russel.
The Awami League, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose government was overthrown after a nationwide student movement, issued a statement saying, “The significance of these days in our national history is undeniable. You cannot silence us by simply pressing a reset button.”
Since Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh, the interim government has shown clear signs of attempting to erase Mujibur Rahman from public memory. There have been visuals of mobs destroying his statues, pictures, and memorabilia associated with Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
The interim government in Bangladesh has denied to identify Mujibur Rahman as the father of the nation. Nahid Islam, the adviser for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology and Information and Broadcasting ministries, told the Bangladeshi media on Wednesday that the country has “many founding fathers”.
He said, “Many people have contributed to the history of our land’s struggles. Our history didn’t begin in 1952. It includes the anti-British resistance and the struggles of 1947, 1971, 1990, and 1924. We have many founding fathers, and it is through their efforts that we achieved freedom.”
Islam, who was one of the leading faces of the anti-discrimination students’ movement against the Hasina regime earlier this year, stated that the holidays removed were originally imposed by the “fascist” Awami League and are now deemed “unimportant”.
The interim government, however, asserts that it does not aim to completely erase Mujibur Rahman or his family from public memory. Instead, it seeks to honour other figures whom it believes were overlooked by the Awami League, which the current administration considers a party of one family.