The Awami League, one of the oldest political parties in the country, will celebrate its 70th founding anniversary across the country on Sunday.
The ruling party will begin its anniversary programme on Sunday by placing wreaths at the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the premises of Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi at 8:30 am.
National and party flags will be hoisted atop all offices of Awami League, including the central office, to mark the anniversary, reports BSS.
A delegation of Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) led by Presidium member Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Faruq Khan will place wreaths at the mausoleum of Bangabandhu at Tungipara in Gopalganj at 11:00 am.
The delegation will include ALCWC member Abul Hasnat Abdullah, Agriculture and Cooperatives Secretary Faridunnahar Laily, Religious Affairs Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Labour and Manpower Affairs Secretary Habibur Rahman Siraj, and ALCWC members SM Kamal Hossain and Marufa Akhter Popi.
A discussion meeting will be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) here at 4pm on June 24. Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the discussion.
Founded on this day in 1949, Awami League led many democratic-political-social-cultural movements and organised the liberation war in 1971 for the independence of Bangladesh.
Political analysts and distinguished personalities think that the achievements of Awami League are the achievements of Bangladesh and its people.
AL Presidium Member and 14-party alliance spokesman Mohammed Nasim said Awami League is not only the oldest and biggest political party in the country but also the mainstream of democracy and secular ideologies.
He said since its inception, the party has been taking forward the country’s socio-political trend uninterruptedly through different movements and struggles over the seven decades.
Nasim said Awami League is one of the secular political parties that led the national movement for emancipation of the Bangalees.
It was Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who had first initiated the work to build a secular Bangladesh, he said.
Historian, writer and folklorist Shamsuzzaman Khan said Awami League became an immensely popular political party by carrying out movements, struggles and protests against repression, exploitation and subjugation by West Pakistani rulers on Banglaee nation and other small ethnic groups.
The sacrifice of Awami League leaders and workers and their contributions to the nation will be ever remembered, he added.
Though the country’s biggest political party was floated as Awami Muslim League at the historical Rose Garden at KM Das Lane in Dhaka, the word ‘Muslim’ was dropped at its third council in 1955.
In a statement on Saturday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader called upon the party units across the country and their associate and like-minded bodies to observe the founding anniversary of the party in befitting manner.
