Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday came down heavily on the then Awami League front ranking leaders for failing to protest and speak against the brutal killing of the Father of the Nation and his other family members.
“There were so many slogans. Where did all those people go? There was not a single person who showed courage to protest the bloodshed. Why could not they do that?” she asked.
The prime minister was addressing a memorial meeting arranged by Bangladesh Awami League (AL) marking the National Mourning Day and 47th martyrdom anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hasina, also the AL President, presided over the meeting held at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC). She said that Awami League was a huge party having so many supporters and leaders, but not a single person got that guts to speak against the killing.
She mentioned that the body of Bangabandhu lay on the floor of Dhanmondi 32 number house from August 15 to August 16. “He (Bangabandhu) did not take anything with him, rather he gave everything for his people. He gave a country, a nation, identity and self-identity for the people,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina, the eldest child of the Father of the Nation, said that the kafon (funeral shroud) of Bangabandhu was made of the relief cloths which were supposed to be given to the poor people.
“My father, mother, brothers and sisters did not take anything with them,” she said with an emotion- chocked voice adding,”Even their namaz e janaza was not performed.”
“I have a question, many leaders are here (at the BICC). The Father of the Nation phoned many of them, what did they do,” she asked.
She mentioned that everyone remains beside while a person is alive, but no one remains beside a dead person. “That is the painful reality…I do not expect anything…”
