The greatest Bengali of a thousand years Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on 17 March 1920 in a noble Muslim family in Tungipara village of Gopalganj subdivision of Faridpur district. Sheikh Mujib was the third child among four daughters and two sons of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and mother Mosammat Sahara Khatun.

His parents used to call him Khoka. Even in childhood, he was aware of the rights of common people. He understood that there is no alternative to politics in realising the rightful demands of the common people.

So in his school life, he got involved in politics and got close to great leaders like Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.

Bangabandhu relentlessly fought for the rights of the common people against the exploitation and oppression of the West Pakistani regime. The path of this struggle was not easy at all. Most of his short life was spent in the darkness of prison.

However, he neither forgot his people nor did he turn away from the path of struggle. He dedicated his whole life to people with uncompromising mindset. The people were the soul of Bangabandhu’s life and his ideals. One of his goals was to make people smile.

His philosophy was to establish a better life for the people of Bengal by fulfilling basic rights: food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care.

The economic, social, cultural and political liberation of the Bengali nation was his dream. Bangabandhu’s love for people was so deep that in the question and answer of the famous journalist David Frost, he said, “My greatest strength is that I love my people. And my greatest weakness is that I love my people too much.”

Bangabandhu was a visionary leader. Even if Pakistan became independent in 1947, the prudent and wise leader Bangabandhu understood well that it would not benefit the Bengalis and so he started dreaming of the independence of the Bengali nation.

“He is immortal in history, who creates history by realising his dreams and gives dreams to the nation,” is the ideal that Bangabandhu implemented with great cognizance. That is why he is immortal in history. Bangabandhu is not just a name; Bangabandhu is an institution, an entity and a history.

Dead Bangabandhu is more powerful than the living Bangabandhu. As long as Bengalis exist, Bangladesh exists and the people of this country exist, Bangabandhu will be a source of inspiration for all.

Bangabandhu struggled every moment of his life for the common man. He dreamed of building a golden Bengal. He has worked for people all his life. He spent almost 13 years in the darkness of prison while demanding people’s rights, yet he did not bow down to injustice and personal greed. From 25 March 1971 to 8 January 1972, Bangabandhu was imprisoned in a Pakistani prison.

At that time the Pakistani administration tried to compromise with Bangabandhu by offering two alternatives: grave and the chair of prime minister. “No one can kill a man who is ready to die,” was Bangabandhu’s simple and robust reply.

Bangabandhu never discriminated between Hindus and Muslims in serving people. When Hindu-Muslim riots broke out after the Partition of 1947, he led his workers to quell the riots. In 1955, under the inspiration of Bangabandhu, the word ‘Muslim’ was dropped from ‘Awami Muslim League’ to ‘Awami League’, which is a result of his non-communal thinking. In the constitution of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu recorded secularism as the basic principle of running the state, ensuring the freedom and security of all religions, castes and tribes to observe their respective religious ceremonies.

Bangabandhu was a very prudent politician. His prudence was evidenced by his historic speech on 7 March 1971 at the Racecourse Maidan. That day the entire Dhaka city was surrounded by west Pakistani forces.

He knew that if independence was declared today, millions of fresh lives would be lost in the firing of Pakistani forces. So, he without saying something directly, prudently declared, “Our struggle this time is a struggle for our freedom. Our struggle this time is a struggle for our independence.” Bangabandhu did not directly declare independence to avoid a bloody conflict, but actually called on the people to fight for independence.

After the independence of the country, Bangabandhu took the initiative to rebuild the war-torn country. For the reorganisation, he announced, “My government will reorganise the administration machinery to suit the new state and the new society.”

He also said, “Government employees should mingle with the people. They are servants and brothers of the people. They are the father of the people, the sons of the people and the children of the people. They have to work with this attitude.” It is this responsible love for the people that transformed Bangabandhu from a hero to a great man and he became the father of a nation.

People can be killed but one’s philosophy, principles and ideals cannot be killed. Even though people killed Bangabandhu, they could not kill his philosophy, principles and ideals. Bangabandhu’s ideology is our pathway today. Bangabandhu’s philosophy, policy, ideals, actions and leadership qualities contain all the elements of being an ideal man and a good citizen.
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The writer is a former Senior Secretary and development projects coordinator in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s constituency