Historical 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Brothers of mine; Today I appear before you with a heavy heart. You know and understand everything. We tried with our lives. But the painful matter is that now the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong,Khulna, Rajhshahi and Rangpur are stained with the bloods of my brothers. Now the people of Bangla want freedom. The people of Bangla want to live. The people of Bangla want to have their rights.
What wrong did we commit? The people of Bangladesh cast their vote overwhelmingly for me, for Awami Leagu..
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Timeline
1920
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in the village of Tungipara under the then Gopalganj subdivision (at present 'District') of greater Faridpur district on March 17, 1920. His father Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and his mother Sheikh Sayera Khatun had four daughters and two sons. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was their third child. His parents used to adoringly call him "Khoka"
1927
At the age of seven in 1927, Sheikh Mujib began his schooling at Gimadanga Primary School. At nine, he was admitted to class three at Gopalgonj Public School. Subsequently, he was admitted to Gopalgonj Missionary School. Before becoming active in student movements and politics, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had an affinity toward sports like any other teenager. He possessed a special love for the game of football. A talented football player, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman spent his adolescent years playing in competitive tournaments, where he received awards for his outstanding performances.
1938
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman married Sheikh Fazilatunnesa (Renu). Together they had two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, and three sons, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel.
1942
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed Matriculation examination from Gopalganj Mission School. The same year he got himself admitted into the Islamia College (currently Maulana Azad College), Kolkata. From there he completed his graduation in the year 1947.
1943
In 1943, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was elected councillor of All India Muslim League from Bengal. He continued to serve admirably in this position till the partition of India in 1947.
1947
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman met Mahatma Gandhi during his peace mission. Sheikh Mujib joined Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy’s move for a United Independent Bengal as a third free state along with India and Pakistan. However, the move was aborted and subsequently became the foundations of the Father of the Nation’s vision for an independent Bangladesh.
1948
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took admission in the Department of Law at the University of Dhaka. He founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students’ League, the first opposition student organization in Pakistan on January 4. He rose in spontaneous protest on February 23 when Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin declared at the Constituent Assembly: ‘The people of East Pakistan must accept Urdu as their state language.’ Sheikh Mujib immediately plunged himself in overt activities to build a strong movement against the Muslim League’s memorandum to make Urdu the only state language of Pakistan. On March 2, a meeting held at Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall approved a re .. read more
1949
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman extended his support for a movement of the Class 4 employees of the University of Dhaka aimed at realizing their rights and job security. He was arrested on April 19 from the residence of the University’s vice-chancellor, where he along with some students had assembled for a demonstration. On June 23, the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (present Awami League) was founded and he was elected as the joint Secretary whilst in prison.
1952
On January 26, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin declared Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan. While in captivity, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman stayed in constant touch with those waging the movement to realize Bangla as one of the state languages. He issued key directives to make the movement a success even from the confines of his prison. On February 16, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman started a hunger strike unto death that lasted for 11 days and was released on February 27. On February 21, the agitated students came out in strike to establish Bangla as the state language of East Pakistan in defiance of the curfew enforced by t .. read more
1953
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was elected General Secretary of the Awami Muslim League and continued to gain prominence as a Bengali leader.
1954
The first general elections in East Bengal were held on March 10. The United Front won 223 seats out of 237. The Awami League was victorious in 143 seats. Sheikh Mujib won the election for the Gopalganj constituency and took oath on May 15 as Minister for Agriculture and Forest in the new provincial government. The central government arbitrarily dismissed the United Front cabinet using the Indian Independence Act of '47 on May 29, and as Mujib landed back in Dhaka from Karachi on May 30, he was immediately arrested. He was released on December 23.
1955
Under the leadership of the Party General Secretary Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami Muslim League was renamed as the Awami League by dropping the word ‘Muslim’ to open the doors of the party to all, regardless of religion. This decision was made at the council session of the party during October 21-23, 1955. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was once again elected as the General Secretary of the party on September 6.
1956
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman joined the provincial Awami League government headed by Khan Ataur Rahman as a minister. He remained in this position for 9 months only. Sheikh Mujib Voluntarily resigned on May 30, 1957 from the Cabinet in order to continue as the General Secretary of the party to build the organization on a firm footing as a platform of the Bengalis.
1957
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was re-elected as the General Secretary of the Party at its council meeting held during June 13-14, 1957. From June 24 to July 13, he visited China on an official tour.
1958
Pakistan’s President, Major General Iskander Mirza, and the chief of Pakistan’s army, General Ayub Khan, imposed martial law on October 7 and banned all political activities. Mujib was arrested on October 11. Thereafter, he was continuously harassed in false cases. He was released from prison after fourteen months but was arrested immediately at the jail gate.
1961
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released from jail after the high court declared his detention unlawful. He set up an underground organization called `Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad’ (Revolutionary Council for Independent Bengal) comprising leading student leaders in order to work for the independence of Bangladesh.
1962
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was again arrested by the Ayub government on February 6, 1962. He was freed on June 18 following the withdrawal of the four-year-long martial law on June 2. He travelled to Lahore on September 24 and with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and other opposition parties formed the National Democratic Front (NDF).
1964
On January 25, a special meeting of the party leaders including Presidents and Secretaries of the district committees was held at Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Dhanmondi 32 residence. In this meeting, the decision was taken to reactivate the Awami League party separately from the National Democratic Front (NDF). At its council meeting during March 6-8, proposals containing the right of the general people of the country to vote and elect their own parliamentary government were accepted. In the same meeting, Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were elected President and General Secretary respectively. As a communal riot broke o .. read more
1965
The Pakistani government charged Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with sedition and for making ‘so called’ objectionable statements. He was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and was released by an order of the high court.
1966
On February 5, 1966, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented his historic six-point programme known as the `charter of freedom of the Bengali nation’. It drew the roadmap for the independence of Bangladesh under the garb of greater autonomy. The programme hit hard at the roots of Pakistani colonial rule over the Bengalis. On March 1, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was elected the President of Awami League. He travelled far and wide in order to gain support for the programme and was arrested 8 times, with the final arrest on May 8, 1966. He was imprisoned for nearly 3 years during this time.
1968
On January 3, the Ayub government filed a case, known as the ‘Agartala Conspiracy Case’ against a number of Bengalis (Politicians, members of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Civil Servants etc) on the charge of treason. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was shown arrested on January 18, while already in jail. He was made number 1 accused and the official name of the case was ‘The State vs Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Others’. Along with him, 34 others were implicated in the case, bringing the charge of forced secession of East Bengal with the assistance of India. Mass movement spread across the country demanding the release of all the accused including Sheikh .. read more
1969
The Agartala Conspiracy Case resulted in a nationwide student movement and mass upsurge demanding the withdrawal of the case and the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. With continued pressure from the public, the Ayub Khan government on February 22 was forced to withdraw the Agartala Conspiracy Case and release Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others. Afterwards, Sheikh Mujib was awarded with the title 'Bangabandhu' at a reception of a million students and the masses in a rally organized by Central Student Action Committee at the Race Course (now Suhrawardy Udyan) on February 23. At a discussion meeting held on December 5 to observe the death anniver .. read more
1970
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League President, urged his countrymen to elect Awami League in light of the 6-point demand. He chose 'boat' as the symbol to represent Awami League and the nation's hope. When a million people died in a catastrophic cyclone in the coastal areas, on November 12, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman suspended the election campaign and rushed to the affected areas. Awami League achieved absolute majority in the general elections on December 7, winning 167 (including 7 women reserved seats) out of the 169 seats of the National Assembly in East Pakistan and 298 seats (including 10 women reserved seats) of .. read more
1971
Following general Yahya khan’s postponement of the National Assembly session on March 1, 1971, only two days before the session was due to take place, every section of the Bengalis instantaneously came out onto the streets in massive demonstrations. The Bengalis aspirations for freedom reached an indomitable height. From March 1 onward Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was virtually running East Pakistan as its de-facto head of government. On March 7, in his historic speech before the millions at the Racecourse Maidan (Suhrawardy Udyan), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called his fellow countrymen to take all out preparations for the war of .. read more
1972
The Government of Pakistan was forced to release Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under immense international pressure on January 8. On that very day, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman traveled to London on his way to Dhaka. There, at a crowded press conference in his hotel in London, he spoke to the world press and on January 9, met the British Prime Minister, Edward Heath. Prior to returning to Dhaka, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman stopped over at Delhi, where the Indian President V. V. Giri and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi welcomed him with grace. When the Father of the Nation reached Dhaka on January 10, millions of grateful citizens .. read more
1973
Led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League secured 293 seats out of the 300 Parliament seats in the first general elections held on March 7 in an independent Bangladesh and subsequently formed a new Government on the basis of the newly framed constitution. The World Peace Council awarded “Julio Curie” Peace Prize to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his contribution to world peace on May 23. On September 6 Sheikh Mujib set off to Algeria to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit Conference. On the sideline of the summit he had bilateral talks with the world leaders.
1974
Bangladesh received official world recognition by becoming the 136th member of the United Nations on September 17. On September 25, at the 29th General Assembly of the United Nations, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed the world in Bangla, the first ever Bangla speech delivered at the UN.
1975
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of Bangladesh, was assassinated by a handful of army renegades as part of a larger national and international political conspiracy hatched by anti-liberation forces in the pre-dawn hours of August 15. They murdered in cold blood every member of his family except his daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, who by fortune alone were abroad at that time. Bangladesh observes August 15 as the National Mourning Day and remembers the noblest and the greatest Bengali who ever lived, through his spirit, ideology, courage and love for the people of his nation.