The 43rd homecoming day of Awami League President
and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being observed today.
On May 17 in 1981, she returned to the country after a long exile.
Boarding on an aircraft of the Indian Airlines, Sheikh Hasina reached the
then Kurmitola Airport here from the Indian capital of New Delhi via Kolkata
at 4.30pm on that day.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed
along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 and his two
daughters– Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana — luckily escaped the carnage
as they stayed abroad.
In a national council session of the Awami League on February 14, 15 and 16
in 1981, Sheikh Hasina was elected as party president in her absence and then
she returned to the country on May 17.
“I have returned to the country not to become a leader of the Awami League,
rather to participate in the struggle for freedom by staying beside the
people,” said the AL president in a heart touching reception accorded by
nearly 1.5 million people at the airport at that time.
She added: “I want to stay beside you as your sister, as your daughter, and
as a worker of Awami League, who believes in the ideals of Bangabandhu.”
After electing as a chair of the ruling Awami League, the country has
established the people’s right to vote and access to food , re-establishment
of democracy and end of autocracy in the forty-two years long political life
led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On the occasion of Sheikh Hasina’s homecoming day, various organisations,
including the Awami League, will organise different programmes.
Special doa and prayers will also be offered at mosques, temples, churches
and pagodas to mark the day.
A delegation of the ruling Awami League will exchange greetings at the
official residence of Prime Minister’s Sheikh Hasina Gano Bhaban here at 11am
on the day.
A discussion will be held at Bangabandhu International conference center at
3.30pm where presidium member of the Awami League Engineer Mosharraf Hossen
MP will chair it.