In front of the ancestral home ( oldest one) of Bangabandhu

me along with others are seen to place floral wreaths at the alter of the shrine of bangabandhu

President of Bangladesh Awami Mukthijoddah League Central Committee and others are seen to pay tribute to Bangabandhu

Mahmudul Hoque Khan Dulal: It was a very remarkable day in my life as I am the fortunate one who visited a famous place where the Father of the nation had been kept for eternal rest. Although it was not his wish or intention to keep the mortal remains in his ancestral land but the destiny has brought him there. It is also an irony of fate as some traitors and pro -Pakistani killed him and which was also unbelievable to the common people that the people of this independent land could kill this great leader  of all times.  Since my childhood I used to love Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation. When I was a tiny boy of 6 to 7 years old the Father of the Nation was very known to me (Although I did not see him face to face but I heard his name to our superiors) as the great leader of the country and also a renowned one across the globe. Under his dynamic leadership this great leader and also the  people of this part won in the general election in 1970 but the Pakistanis did not hand over power to Bangabandhu rather they  wanted to grab the power for good by hatching conspiracy in the name of dialogues, talks etc. and the rest history is known to all. We had to fight against the occupation forces and snatched away the independence after a long nine months tremendous battle with the Pakistanis and their close associates Razakars, Al-Badrs, Al- Shams as well. The Bengalees had to sacrifice a lot during the long 9 months and 30 lakhs people of this land lost their lives and 2 lakhs women had to lose their chastity for independence. Before going to the main points I have to give the introduction in a bid to make understand what I was going to write down right this moment when we are going to celebrate the 43rd Victory Day.

As I am a journalist by profession and I have been doing this since I was a student of M.A in Linguistics of Dhaka University in early nineties and as of today I am doing the same. From my very boyhood I used to love Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his politics as well. When I grew up I did not actively get involved myself in politics for many causes. But mentally I had the support always to the politics of Awami League and a few months back I made up my mind to get involved with politics actively and accordingly with the help of my seniors I joined with Bangladesh Awami Mukhtijodda League ( BAML), although it is known to me that the journalists are not supposed to do politics directly. I express my heartiest thanks and gratitude to those who has given me a break in active politics and expect their support and co operation in days to come as well. But now- a- days it has become a common phenomenon that the senior journalists are getting involved in politics openly and it is found in every political party. So why should not me? As it is a constitutional right to every citizen for doing politics so I am doing the same. I think it would have been better from my part to contribute to the people of the country alongside my profession. Despite it is too late yet I have got the opportunity to move forward actively with the ideals of Bangabandhu and the politics of Awami League as well.

It was a day of November 20, 2014 (Thursday), just the winter has set in and it was also a remarkable day in my life as I was going to have a tour for the first time in Tungi Para, the paternal land of our great leader and founding President of  Bangladesh .Our central committee took decision to have a formal journey of Bangladesh Awami Muktijodda League after taking oath at the grave yard of Bangabandhu sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation and with this end in view we all that means the newly formed central committee which had been primarily constituted with 71 members (Now 81 members) are told to come in the very early morning at the premises of Awami League Central Office, Bangabandhu Avenue. I reached there at 6 o’clock and saw a few people there. The authorities hired 6 Hiyes micro buses for us. Our president Sheikh Ahmad Hossain Mirza, General Secretary, Md. Shamsul Hoque Dhali and Senior Vice President, Hamidur Rahman Jhantu boarded on their Prado car.

We started our journey from Bangabandhu Avenue at 7a.m in a disciplined way and reached at Maowa ferry ghat around 8 a.m. We had to wait around forty minutes for ferry to cross the river Padma. We reached the Kawrakandi ferry ghat at about 12 noon and again our micro buses and prado started to run towards Tungi Para. As the drivers were told to drive carefully and for this we did not have to face any problem on the way. But after crossing Bhanga bus stand, a wheel of our prado was disturbed and for this we had to stop there for few minutes.  In the meantime we almost everybody got down from the micro buses and few of us finished their nature’s call (urination) at roadside bushes. Somebody of us says ridiculously that they are utilizing the time by doing so. Around 2-30 p.m we reached at the homestead of Bangadnadu, the great leader who was brutally killed along with his almost all family  members, near and dear ones except Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana in the capital’s 32, Dhanmondi  residence  by some unruly misguided soldiers on August 15, 1975. The killers even did not spare to kill Russel, the youngest son of Bangabandhu who was not merely over 10 years old at that time. Had the two sisters been in the country I think they would not be spared from the hands of the traitors who were instigated to do the gruesome killing by Major Ziaur Rahman what we came to know later on as he indirectly inspired the killers by saying to go ahead. Reaching there I took some snaps of the houses of Bangabandhu, his grave yard, and other scenery in and around there. A few minutes later we took oath at the altar of the grave yard of Bangabandhu and also a doa mahfil was offered by a local Hujur (a religious man), sweets were distributed among the people and it made a huge gathering there. By this time an unexpected incident took place here and that was a pick pocket. Our treasurer Mahbub Enamul Haq  vai lost his money bag with Tk. 8000/- in the crowded area where a doa mahfil was held. However in the meantime I saw that our fellow mates are going towards   the guest house Modhumoti to have their lunch and I also followed them for the same purpose. As the local Awami League leaders and some other respected persons were invited to attend our program and lunch as well. So, most of them sat to have launch and we almost fifty percent could not get chance to sit for launch at the first phase. We had to wait around twenty minutes but during that time I felt bad as I was so hungry. As I mentioned earlier that the locals were invited at least two days before and it got a huge publicity in that area. Our office secretary Saiful vai was sent to Tungi Para before two days with a view to arrange lunch and other necessary things including inviting guests. During our launch period, a brief discussion meeting was also held in the guest house simultaneously. The local Awami League leaders, freedom fighters addressed the meeting and bade thanks to the leaders of Bangladesh Awami Muktijodda League for coming Tungi Para to visit the tomb of the father of the nation and urged all to come forward for strengthening the hands of Jananetri Sheikh Hasina with a view to implement the dream of Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla and a digital Bangladesh as well. Our president Sheikh Ahmad Hossain Mirza also spoke to the gathering. After having lunch we took rest for a while and later on we again came to the house of Bangabandhu. Everybody was so busy to see the tomb of Bangabandhu, his houses, the houses of his relatives and so on. As our president Sheikh Ahmad Hossain Mirza is also a member of Sheikh dynastic and a close relative as well a few of us went to see his house. His son Sheikh Suman helped a lot as guide to make us understand everything of that area. I took few photographs of the houses of Bangabandhu, some snaps of the one storied building of our president too.

This is all in brief what we did or enjoyed in our short trip at Tungi Para. Now the turn of coming to Dhaka and for this we all were asked to broad on our respective micro buses. Our micro started to run towards Dhaka from Tungi Para. After half an hour of the journey we reached a place named Ghona Para, one of our fellow mates Tariqul Islam vai, organizing secretary got down from the micro as he was supposed to go to Khulna.  Engr. Shamsul Huq, Belayet Hossain, Fazlur Karim, Abdur Rahim vai and me remained in the bus and passed the whole time by gossiping each other till our arrival at Paschchar stand which is two kilometers off from Kawrakandi ferry ghat. Fazlur Karim vai is accustomed to have betel leave ( Paan) frequently but despite repeated request  the driver did not stop the bus.  The driver time and again assured him saying that he would stop the micro at the nearest station but he did not do that and in such way we crossed the Bhanga bus stand. Meanwhile I told my fellow mates that I would also get down at pachchar stand as earlier I decided to go to my family members in Shibchar. It was around 5 p.m when we reached at pachchar stand and I got down from the micro leaving the four who all would go to Dhaka. Later on I learnt that they reached the party office at Bangabandhu Avenue at 10 p.m. Thanks to the Almighty Allah as we did not have to face any difficulties in our day long short trip to Tungi para of Gopalgonj.

(The writer is the Secretary, Publicity & Publication Affairs,Bangladesh Awami Muktijodda League, 25, Bangabandhu Avenue G.F Dhaka)