Mar 7 speech was apparently actual declaration of independence: PM Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the historic 7th March speech was apparently the actual declaration of independence as Bangabandhu uttered twice with utmost assertion that “this time the struggle is for our freedom and this time the struggle is for our independence.”

“He (Bangabandhu) said twice that ‘Ebarer Sangram Muktir Sangram. Ebarer Sangram Swadhinatar Sangram’ (this time the struggle is for our freedom. This time the struggle is for our independence) giving utmost assertion in his speech. That means he had clearly said that it’d be the struggle for independence and it’d be a war of independence. So, the 7th March speech can be said as the actual declaration of independence from this point of view,” she said.

The prime minister said this while addressing a virtual programme arranged by the Cultural Affairs Ministry to mark the historic 7th March.

She virtually joined the function, held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city, from her official residence Ganobhaban.

Noting that Bangabandhu had known that he might not be alive during the official proclamation of the independence, the prime minister said, “So, he gave the declaration of independence in his historic speech.”

Sheikh Hasina said the historic 7th March speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a very effective war strategy as he had given all directives to the nation to take preparation for a guerrilla war.

“What effective his speech is from the point of view of a war strategy! And what realistic his every step is! That is very important,” she said.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque and Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni also spoke at the function presided over by State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid.

Chief coordinator of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury presented the keynote paper while Cultural Affairs Secretary M Badrul Arefin delivered the welcome speech.

October 30, 2017, the historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu was included in the Memory of the International World Register, a list of world’s important documentary heritage maintained by UNESCO.

Following the 7th March speech, the entire country (East Bengal) had come under the quiet control of Bangabandhu as the people followed his every directive word by word.

In the speech, Bangabandhu had given all directives on how East Bengal would run and the most historic thing is that the country used to run as per the directives the Father of the Nation gave from his Dhanmondi-32 residence, she said.

Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, said the playing of the historic speech was banned after 1975 and there was an unwritten ban on it at that time.

“But history can’t be effaced so easily. Truth can never be suppressed … Today the truth got exposed. Today this speech got the world’s recognition,” she said.

Hasina said UNESCO took the step to spread the speech by translating it into every UN language.

“Today the United Nations gave recognition of the speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which was once banned in his own country,” said the prime minister.