March 26, 1971 marks the culmination of the quest for the distinctive identity of the people of this land now known as Bangladesh. A new nation was born. But the birth pang was most excruciating only a handful of the peoples the world over had ever experienced. With the people's deliverance remaining incomplete and distorted by the 1947 division of the sub-continent, the Bangalees were united under the stellar leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman looking for comprehensive emancipation. A bloody and unjust war forced on the unarmed Bangalees by the Pakistani military rulers only made the people to fight it out with a more steely resolution. After nine months of bloody war the Bangalees with help from allied Indian army finally overpowered the Pakistani forces and wrested victory.
The hard-fought independence is worth celebrating but the disturbing memory of genocide and dishonour of women perpetrated by the Pakistani brutal forces haunts the nation till today. Those who embraced martyrdom made this land hallowed and their sacrifice tempers the celebration with the sombre respect due to them. So here is a mixed feeling of happiness and sadness with which the nation consecrates the occasion. With the birth of a nation, the old world order ceases to be and makes way for addition of yet another unique form of diversity in unity. A quest for a people's special identity thus gets recognised and in the process human civilisation becomes more colourful, diverse and resourceful.
At home, though, the paradigm shift in the social order is even more pronounced. It is a kind of renaissance that takes place with the new nation dreaming to accomplish the impossible. That soaring spirit has time and again been brought down abruptly by forces inimical to the conceptually liberal and progressive pillars of the republic's foundation as set by its founding fathers. Yet the nation's journey has after all found a sense of direction and purpose. But it still has miles to go before its goals are achieved and objectives realised.
A nation that discovered its language as the fountainhead has by now done exceptionally well in terms of components of emancipation such as social and economic orders. Yet not all is well on those fronts. Economic disparities are widening beyond tolerable limits, leading to undesirable social stratification. The founding fathers and martyrs dedicated their lives to the cause of bringing down inequality, if not eliminating it entirely, from the soil of Bangladesh. Now this has remained as a thorn in the nation's neck. Along with the principles that went into making this nation, the mother tongue also has not seen advancement and flourishing enough to be equal to the challenges of the new millennium when digitisation and automation are likely to rule the roost. Another highly important ingredient of national identity is its culture. To make independence meaningful in people's life and avoid many pitfalls, a cultural reawakening has no alternative. On the occasion of the 51st anniversary of independence, let the nation make a vow to reignite the 1971 spirit and eliminate all forms of discrimination from society.