Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said that the historic uprising of soldiers and the people on November 7, 1975 set the course for Bangladesh.
“Those who wanted to keep Bangladesh a client state, who wanted to strip the people of their democratic political rights and impose one-party autocratic rule, and who wanted to drag through the dust the pride of the army, the symbol of the country’s valour, courage and honour, were defeated through the historic revolution of the patriotic soldiers and people on November 7,” he said.
He said this in a message issued on the eve of “Historic National Revolution and Solidarity Day”, which falls tomorrow. The prime minister wished success to all programmes adopted nationally to mark the day.
“On November 7, soldiers and people united to foil every conspiracy against the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh. That historic day was the day the country’s friends and enemies were identified,” the prime minister said in the message.
He said a proverb is worth remembering in any discussion of Bangladesh’s history, from its birth and the Liberation War onward: “Dwell on the past and you lose an eye; forget the past and you lose both.” Just as it is unwise to be absorbed in history all the time, he said, failing to learn from history when charting the future is also a historic mistake.
Tarique Rahman said history bears witness that the forces defeated on November 7, 1975, after a long path of conspiracy, came together under the name of the Grand Alliance and turned the country into a client state. They tarnished the army’s pride and dignity through the planned killing of army officers at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana, he said, and imposed fascist rule by taking away the people’s right to vote and their democratic political rights. Through the sacrifice of thousands of martyrs and the bloody mass uprising of students and the public, the country was finally freed from fascism after more than a decade and a half, he said.
He said the war of 1971 was fought to win independence, and 2024 was about protecting the independence of the country and its people. Just as people from all walks of life took to the streets in 2024 to defend that independence, he said, soldiers and people united on the streets in 1975 to stop every conspiracy against the country’s independence and sovereignty.
The prime minister said the main pledge of this year’s November 7 should be that no one can ever again take away the rights of the country and its people or turn Bangladesh into a client state. National unity is needed to fulfil that pledge, he said.
Tarique Rahman said that to uphold national unity in Bangladesh’s socio-economic, geographic and political reality, the spirit of the November 7 uprising must be embraced wholeheartedly. The 1971 Liberation War, the November 7, 1975 uprising of soldiers and people against client forces, the anti-autocracy movement of 1990 and the anti-fascist mass uprising of 2024 shared a single aspiration across history, he said: to build a self-reliant, safe welfare state by establishing all the democratic political rights of the people in an independent Bangladesh.
In the message, the prime minister said that on this historic day, when the 1975 uprising foiled conspiracies against independence and sovereignty and defended the people’s democratic rights, the patriotic, democracy-loving people should declare: “Not Delhi, not Pindi, nor any other country: Bangladesh before all.”
The prime minister expressed hope that the revolutionary spirit of November 7 will inspire and guide the building of Bangladesh’s future.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report