Bangladesh Chief Adviser Yunus calls this year’s Victory Day extra significant after ouster of Hasina

Dhaka: Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Monday led Bangladesh in celebrating the 54th Victory Day that led to the liberation of the country in 1971, calling this year’s celebration extra significant after the ouster of what he referred to as the “world’s worst autocratic government”.

In his speech to mark the occasion, Yunus that did not mention the country’s founding leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Victory Day or Vijay Diwas commemorates the Pakistan military’s surrender to Indian forces. India’s historic victory led to the liberation of Bangladesh.

Yunus and Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin separately paid tributes to millions of Liberation War martyrs and the National Memorial at Savar on the outskirts of the capital.

 “I recall the millions of martyrs including numerous children and juveniles, youths and the elderly people’s sacrifices that made possible the achievement of our independence,” Yunus said in a televised speech.

His address, however, made no mention of the political leadership in 1971 and that of Rahman, the father of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina.

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Yunus said, “Because of our faults we could not give completeness to our achievements” and of late a “monstrous autocratic government had grabbed the country which virtually promised that it will not allow anything to remain which could benefit the country”.

Yunus, 84, said the ouster of the “world’s worst autocratic government (Hasina’s Awami League regime)” and forcing it to flee amid a mass upsurge earned extra significance to the celebration this year.

A student-led uprising ousted the regime of prime minister Hasina on August 5,  forcing her to take refuge in India. An interim government was installed after here ouster with Professor Yunus as the Chief Adviser or de facto prime minister.

During the celebrations on Monday, Army bugles played the last post as they stood in solemn silence.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta accompanied Yunus there as a visiting top foreign dignitary to join the celebration.

Deviating from the tradition since the independence, Bangladesh did not stage the Victory Day Parade in the capital which the Liberation War affairs adviser Farook-e-Azam said could not be held because of preoccupation of the armed forces.

“The army is currently engaged in activities across the country, and organising the parade requires advance preparation, which wasn’t feasible this year,” he said in an interview with the Daily Star newspaper.

But he said the celebration would be inclusive for all with ‘Victory Fairs’ across the country featuring art and craft exhibits, agricultural product displays, and showcasing of domestic goods.

He said schools were hosting their own programmes as part of the festivities and cultural programmes would include the participation of children, women, and men, making the celebration inclusive for all.

“The shift in celebration format aims to bring more active public involvement and create a festive atmosphere in every part of the country,” Azam said.

On this day, the Pakistani Army suddenly cracked down on unarmed Bengalis in what was called East Pakistan on March 25, 1971 and arrested Bangabandhu instead of handing over power to his Awami League in line with the 1970 election results.

The Bengalis organised resistance by forming an Awami League-led government in exile in India, which sheltered nearly a million refugees and provided weapons and military assistance to the freedom fighters during the nine-month-long war.

 On December 3, a direct war broke out between India and Pakistan. After 13 days of war, the Pakistani troops conceded defeat laying down their weapons in Dhaka before the allied forces of India and Bangladesh.

 Eight Indian military veterans of the Liberation War are in Dhaka to mark the event while eight war veterans of the Bangladesh Army are in Kolkata to join the Vijay Diwas celebrations.