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Today, August 15, marks the 51st death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president and prime minster of independent Bangladesh. This day has returned once again without elaborate state and party programmes since the downfall of the government of Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in the historic July Mass Uprising, which forced her escaped to India.
On this day in 1975, a group of disgruntled army personnel brutally assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his resident at Dhanmondi 32 in the capital Dhaka, which remains one of the most tragic incidents in the country’s political history.
Besides Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his wife Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, three sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and young Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, and his only brother Sheikh Abu Naser were also killed on the night of August 15, 1975.
At the time, Bangabandhu’s two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, were in Brussels, Belgium, and therefore survived the massacre. Twenty-one years after the August 15 killings, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, returned to power in 1996. The trial of the assassins was subsequently initiated. August 15 was also declared National Mourning Day and a public holiday.
On November 8, 1998, a trial court sentenced 15 people to death in the Bangabandhu assassination case. Later, the High Court upheld the death sentences of 12 convicts. So far, six of them have been executed. One died abroad, while five remain fugitives.
When the Awami League returned to power under Sheikh Hasina in 2009, it remained in government for more than 15 consecutive years. During this period, the party observed month-long programmes surrounding August 15. Various events were held on August 15, including paying tribute to Bangabandhu’s portrait at Dhanmondi 32 and visiting his grave in Tungipara, Gopalganj.
In 2024, Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year autocratic rule came to an end following the July Mass Uprising. Amid the changed political circumstances, August 15 is no longer a public holiday marking Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s death anniversary. The holiday was abolished on August 13, 2024 by the advisory council of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.