Puzzled by this question posed by his classmates in his school, Radwan Mujib had a hard time pitting it against the version narrated by his mother, who dubbed her father “a superhero.” Indeed, Bangabandhu fell nothing short of a superhero who led a nation to freedom in 1971 and whose voice is now registered as a memory of the world. Everything changed at the dawn of August 15, 1975 when a group of disgruntled army officers gunned down Bangabandhu and most of his family members at his Dhanmondi residence.

The assassination of Bangabandhu shoved the country into its darkest chapter that prevailed for a decade and half. With the takeover by military dictators came the strangest rule that Bangabandhu’s killers would be endowed with indemnity. In the 1980s, even uttering Bangabandhu’s name amounted to a crime. Radwan Mujib, Bangabandhu’s grandson, then a school student, had no idea of the political chaos that gripped the country and the struggle for democracy that was gaining momentum. The military regime left no stone unturned to wipe out the spirit of the Liberation War and the ideology of the Father of the Nation once and for all. Radwan was still in the dark about why a legend – as regarded by his mother – was not even heard of by his classmates. Growing up on a steady diet of graphic novels, he visualized a comic in which Bangabandhu would be portrayed as a superhero.

However, as Radwan celebrated his 43rd birthday, the country is now marked with a diametrically opposite scenario. Democracy has returned and so did the progressive ideology. Radwan has brought forth a series of creative projects to present history in the form of stories so that youths get engaged in the spirit of the Liberation War, for which three million martyrs shed their blood.

Radwan Mujib’s successful initiative demonstrates that words and pictures can revive the history that bullets and bombs try to bury forever. He undertook a number of projects, adding flesh and blood to history, to connect with youths.

Read more: Carrying Bangabandhu’s legacy

His brainchildren include Joy Bangla Concert (a concert themed on the wartime slogan “Joy Bangla”), Joy Bangla Youth Award (a countrywide initiative to award young changemakers), and “Mujib Graphic Novel” (a comic-style sketch of young Mujib, who would go on to become the Father of the Nation).

His idea of presenting history creatively through anecdotes and vignettes instead of mere dates and names can be traced back to his traumatic experience during his school life when military rulers made his grandfather Bangabandhu a forbidden name.

Growing up at a time following the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu, the man who liberated this country, Radwan could not come to terms with the fact that the killers of a nation’s founding father were enjoying indemnity while his superhero grandfather was nowhere to be mentioned.

That devastating encounter at an early age shaped his life's mission, encouraging him to drawing youths closer to real history, the glory that makes this nation stand out.

The CRI trustee and London School of Economics graduate received birthday wishes and appreciation on May 21 from all quarters, especially youths who were recognized, groomed, and networked by his projects.

Radwan, who inherited his knack for knowledge from his mother Sheikh Rehana, co-produced “Hasina: A Daughter's Tale,” a docufiction poignantly narrating the real-life struggles of Sheikh Hasina after the murder of her father in a coup on August 15, 1975.

The editor-in-chief of WhiteBoard, the country’s first policy-based magazine, regularly interacts with youths through the projects he had set in motion. His sister Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, reputed for her fiery speech and biting wit, is a member of parliament in the UK. Another granddaughter of Bangabandhu, Saima Wazed, is a member of World Health Organization’s 25-member Expert Advisory Panel on mental health. Bangabandhu’s grandson Sajeeb Wazed is the ICT Advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Despite the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members, his spirit and ideology reclaimed their foothold through the impossible comeback by his daughter Sheikh Hasina and the unstoppable efforts by his grandsons and granddaughters.

Tonmoy Ahmed is an engineer and coordinator of ALBD Web Team.