Bangabandhu -Bang-alee's Greatest Hero

Bangabandhu

Friday, 15 August, 1975, is one of the saddest days of our history. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, our greatest patriot, was killed on that day. His dear wife, three sons and only brother were also killed along with him. It reminded us of the dark night of March 25, 1971. The Father of the Nation, loved and respected in Bangladesh and the world over as a great hero, a great leader of independence, lay dead on the stairs of his famous residence at Road Number 32, Dhanmandi Residential Area. He was only fifty five. 

Bangabandhu, of all people, didn't deserve a death like this! He was our greatest politician. His love for his country and his people was beyond question. Who could kill our greatest patriot? A certain Major Dalim was claiming credit for his death! Who was he? We had never heard of him before! Khandakar Mushtaq has become the new president. My God! What a traitor!

Who killed Bangabandhu? They who control world politics like people who obey them. They don't like nationalist leaders and freedom-loving patriots like Bangabandhu or Allende. Thus Allende dies but General Pinochet lives on and makes life miserable for his countrymen. There are many such instances in the Third World. If you want to kill a great leader, make him unpopular through planted journalists, corrupt and disgruntled bureaucrats and dismissed soldiers. Use some of them during his killing. Then get obedient people to rule the country and serve your purpose. No wonder our Supreme Court has ruled that the governments which succeeded Bangabandhu and his cabinet were not legal. They had captured power by sheer force. They were not bred by democracy. 

Bang-alee loved and respected the martyred Bangabandhu even more. He had his tragic flaws but he was our greatest hero, wasn't he? He was our greatest hero of the past, the present and the future. My thirty seven-year-old heart profusely bled for him. A budding young man wept over the death of his land's greatest patriot.


Shariful Alam