Senior leaders of Awami League assembled at Baidyanathtala, a mango orchard, which was later named as Mujibnagar, in Meherpur district on April 17, 1971 to form the provisional government of independent Bangladesh in the absence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was arrested and flown to Pakistan after Pakistan military had cracked down on the Bangalees on the night of March 25, 1971.

Bangabandhu was declared the first President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, while Vice-president Syed Nazrul Islam became the acting president in the absence of Bangabandhu.

Tajuddin Ahmad was appointed the first Prime Minister, while Khandoker Moshtaque Ahmed, M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamaruzzaman were named cabinet members.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placing a wreath at his portrait in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi.

After laying the wreath, the Prime Minister stood there in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Bangabandhu, the architect of the country’s independence.

Flanked by central leaders of her party, Sheikh Hasina, also the President of Awami League, placed another wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu on behalf of her party.