The day’s programme started with hoisting of the national and party flags at the Awami League central office, Bangabandhu Bhaban, and party offices across the country around 6:30am.
AL leaders and workers placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu at Bangabandhu Bhaban in the city’s Dhanmondi at 7am.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the nationwide countdown to the birth centenary celebration of Bangabandhu at the National Parade Square in the afternoon. It is the place where Bangabandhu landed in the newly-liberated and sovereign Bangladesh on January 10, 1972.
Sheikh Hasina opened it through unveiling the ‘Logo’ of the ‘Mujib Borsho’ to be celebrated from March 17, 2020 to March 26, 2021.
The ruling Awami League, its associate and front organisations and various socio-political organisations arranged elaborate programmes to mark the Homecoming Day.
Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion.
In his message, the President said the incumbent government, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu, has been working tirelessly to take the country forward.
“Bangladesh is now being considered worldwide as a role model for its development in various sectors,” the President noted. He said he is confident that with this pace of development, Bangladesh will become a developed country by 2041.
The President urged all to take the pledge to continue the advancement of Bangladesh by implementing the unfinished tasks of the great leader imbued with the spirit of War of Liberation.
In her message, the Prime Minister said, “Bangladesh and UNESCO will jointly celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu next year. We have been tirelessly working to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021, and a developed-prosperous one by 2041.”
She also called upon all to perform their due responsibilities from their respective positions to accelerate development, uphold democracy and establish good governance frustrating conspiracies against democracy and the government being imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War.
On January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu returned to independent and sovereign Bangladesh after over nine and a half months of captivity in a Pakistan jail. Bangabandhu was subjected to inhuman torture in the jail where he had been counting moments for the execution of his death sentence that was pronounced in a farcical trial.
Bangabandhu inspired the Bangalee nation. He was the inspiration of the freedom fighters.
Under his leadership, Bangalees earned the ultimate victory through the nine-month Liberation War in 1971. The defeated Pakistani rulers were finally compelled to release Bangabandhu from jail. The victory of the Bangalees attained its fulfillment with his return to the country.
This year’s Homecoming Day is significant as the nation is going to celebrate the great leader’s year-long birth centenary. The government has already declared ‘Mujib Borsho’ which will be followed by the golden jubilee celebrations of the country’s independence in 2021.