Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given the following message on the occasion of the Homecoming Day :
The greatest Bangali, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to independent Bangladesh on the 10 January of 1972 after over nine and a half months’ captivity in a Pakistan jail. The 10 January is one of the memorable days in the history of the liberation struggle of the Bangali.
Bangladesh Awami League achieved absolute majority in the 1971 election under the leadership of the Father of the Nation. But the Pakistani military junta continued to cling to power ignoring the people’s mandate staging various farces. Aiming at an ultimate target to free the Bangali nation, Bangabandhu in his address at the then historic Racecourse Maidan on the 7th March in 1971 declared, “This time the struggle is for our freedom, this time the struggle is for the independence”. The Pakistani occupation forces launched brutal attack on the innocent Bangalis and carried out massacre on the night of the 25 March in 1971. Bangabandhu declared Independence of Bangladesh at the first hour of the 26 March.
Just after his declaration of the independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and subsequently sent to a solitary confinement in Pakistani jail. He was subjected to inhuman torture in the jail where he had been counting moments for being executed after his death sentence was pronounced in a farcical trial. Even in the face of imminent death, he rejoiced the spirit of the Bangali nation. He was the inspiration of the freedom fighters. Under his undisputed leadership, the Bangali nation earned the ultimate victory waging the 9-month war. The defeated Pakistani rulers were compelled to free Bangabandhu. The Father of Nation returned to the independent Bangladesh on the 10 January 1972. While speaking before a mammoth gathering at the then Racecourse Maidan on the day, he narrated the inhuman torture of the Pakistani military junta meted out on the people of Bangladesh. The Bangali Nation got back the Father of the Nation and their victory attained the fulfilment.
After his return, the Father of the Nation devoted all his efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged Bangladesh. Responding to his call, many international organizations, including the United Nations
and friendly countries quickly recognized Bangladesh. Bangladesh became a member of OIC in 1974. Within a short time under the charismatic leadership of Bangabandhu, Bangladesh made a strong position in the world.
As Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib had engaged himself in the struggle to build a “Golden Bangladesh” reconstructing the war-torn country, the anti-liberation forces in collusion with the war criminals assassinated Bangabandhu along with most of his family members. Through the heinous killings of the 15 August 1975, they initiated the politics of killings, coup and conspiracy and obstructed the process to try the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib through promulgating Indemnity Ordinance. They ruined the democracy by declaring Martial Law, distorted the glorious history of our independence, defaced the constitution and gagged the press freedom. The BNP-Jammat alliance government had followed the paths of their predecessors.
We reestablished the democracy in 1996 through a long struggle and sacrifice. Our government’s 1996-2001 tenure will always be marked as a glorious period in our national history. The Bangali nation reestablished democracy and rights of the people in 2008 through a long struggle. The nation overwhelmingly voted in favour of Bangladesh Awami League, the party that led the War of Liberation, in the much-awaited parliamentary elections. Awami League-led Grand Alliance government ensured the franchise of the people by bringing the 15th amendment to the constitution which prohibited usurpation of the state power.
The people of Bangladesh again made the Awami League victorious in the 5 January 2014 election and thereby preserved the continuation of the constitutional process. Our government has relentlessly been working for the development of the country and its people as per its election pledges.
Bangladesh has become the ‘Role Model’ of development in the world. Our government has accomplished immense developments in all sectors, including economy, agriculture, education, health, transport and communication, ICT, infrastructure, power generation, rural economy and diplomatic relation and cooperation during the last ten years. We have also joined the elite club of the satellite technology as the 57th nation through the launching of Bangabandhu Satellite-1. Our GDP growth rate is now 7.86 percent, the highest in our history. The poverty rate in the country has now declined to 21.8 percent, and the hardcore poverty rate stands at 11.3 percent. Our per capita income is USD 1751. Our students are getting textbooks at free of cost. The literacy rate is now 73 percent. 93% people are under electricity coverage. We hope, 100 percent household will be brought under electricity coverage very soon. Healthcare facilities have reached the doorsteps of the common people. The average life expectancy of the people has jumped to 72.8 years. Digital Bangladesh is now a reality. For the first time in the world, we have formulated a hundred year plan named ‘Delta Plan 2100’. Bangladesh is one of the five top countries in the world in economic development. Ninety percent of development work is done by our own resources. We have executed the verdict of the trial of the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman establishing the rule of law. The verdicts of the trials of the war criminals are also being executed. The trials of war criminals will be continued as per our pledges to the nation. Due to the continuation of Awami League government for 10 years, grassroot people are now getting the dividend of the development. Bangladesh is moving forward and it will continue. The next generation will get a prosperous Bangladesh.
The people made Bangladesh Awami League victorious in the recent 11th parliamentary election.We will fully honour the huge mandate that the people of our country have given us. We will turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041, InshaAllah.
Let us come and uphold the development and democratic spree being imbued with the spirit of the freedom struggle. Let us engage ourselves for the welfare of the country and nation. Let us build a hunger-poverty-free and happy-prosperous Sonar Bangladesh as dreamt by Father of the Nation.
I pray for his departed soul on the occasion of the homecoming day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Joi Bangla, Joi Bangabandhu
May Bangladesh Live Forever.”