By M. Nazrul Islam
August 15, 1975. A dark and terrifying day.
On this day, one of the blackest chapters of cruelty was written into history. It was a crime so horrific that it stunned the nation and left the world in grief. On this day, the beloved leader of the Bengali nation the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with his entire family.
Bangabandhu gave his life, his all, for the welfare of the Bengali people. In the struggle for their rights, he stood fearless. In return, he endured prison, torture, and persecution. Even the gallows had been prepared for him, from which he was saved only by the unstoppable movement of the people. This unyielding hero ultimately succeeded in freeing the nation from a thousand years of subjugation. The Bengali people gained an independent country and a flag of pride. No wonder, then, that he was voted the “Greatest Bengali of the Millennium” in a BBC poll.
Bangabandhu firmly steered this war-torn nation. Under his leadership, Bangladesh began to rise again. But as the country started to recover, domestic and foreign conspiracies took root. The defeated forces of the Liberation War searched for a moment to strike. That opportunity came — and the nation’s beloved leader fell victim to the plot.
As part of this grand conspiracy, a faction of the army surrounded Bangabandhu’s home at Dhanmondi 32 under cover of night. Before dawn, they carried out one of the most barbaric massacres in history. Not even his youngest child was spared.
For the Bengali nation, August 15 is a day of mourning, a day of tears. As poet Nirmalendu Goon wrote: “The day of crying has come — cry, Bengalis, cry.” Fifty years on, the day still pierces our hearts with grief, and our eyes still flood with tears. No Bengali heart can forget the merciless scene — the blood-soaked body of the Father of the Nation lying lifeless on the stairs, pools of blood in the rooms, the bodies of his loved ones strewn across the home.
Their only “crime” was wanting the nation’s welfare. That was intolerable to the defeated forces of 1971 and their foreign patrons.
Even now, when I look back, I see those early post-independence days — the joy of liberation in the air, the determination to rebuild. I was then the Joint General Secretary of the Dhaka Metropolitan Chhatra League (Student League). Though I studied at Jagannath College, my days were spent at Dhaka University and the central Chhatra League office.
In August 1975, we were preparing to welcome Bangabandhu to Dhaka University for the first time since being expelled years earlier for supporting the Fourth-Class Employees’ Movement. We worked tirelessly — setting up the stage, assigning responsibilities, mobilizing students from across the city. On August 14, I spent the whole day between the university campus and the metropolitan office.
That night, after dinner with two fellow leaders — Shafiqul Rahman and Tofazzal Hossain — we visited the Jubo League office, then went to Fazlul Haq Hall at Dhaka University, where we stayed in Room 317 with Obaidul Haq Bablu. At dawn, we awoke to the knock of the hall canteen manager. He had heard on the radio that Bangabandhu and his family had been killed.
We turned on the radio. The news confirmed our worst fear. Shocked, in tears, we left the hall — knowing it could soon be searched. Tanks roamed the streets; soldiers patrolled in armored vehicles. The city was gripped by fear. We took refuge in a small printing press in Dayaganj — a tin-roofed room with bamboo walls. That night, in the darkness, we sat facing each other, silent.
The assassination of Bangabandhu was not just a killing — it was part of a far-reaching plan to banish his ideals. The bullets spared no one in his family — not even his young son Sheikh Russel or his daughters-in-law. The killers didn’t stop at murder; they seized state power, rewarded themselves with immunity, and even altered the constitution to protect their crimes.
It is clear: the aim was not only to kill Mujib the man, but to kill the spirit of the nation’s independence.
That same aim is alive today. The killers of 1971 and 1975 are fully active once more — and in 2024, we have seen the same conspiracy in action. Their targets remain the same: Bangabandhu’s ideals, the history and spirit of the Liberation War, Bengali nationalism, and the 1972 Constitution. Their hatred is visible in the destruction of Bangabandhu’s sculptures, in the attack and looting of his house, even bulldozing it to the ground. Recently, they targeted Bangabandhu’s mausoleum in Gopalganj, but the people’s resistance forced them to retreat.
By killing the man, they tried to kill an ideal — but in Bangladesh, that has never been possible and never will be. Today, Bangabandhu is more relevant, more alive, and more of an inspiration than ever.
The nation faces another critical moment. We must once again pledge to break every web of conspiracy and advance the ideals of Mujib and the spirit of the Liberation War. We must defeat the defeated forces of 1971 and safeguard all the achievements of independence.
We believe the Bengali nation’s forward march will continue.
On this August 15, the 50th anniversary of his martyrdom, we remember with the highest respect the great Bengali who gave our nation its identity — our Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
(The writer is President of the All-European Awami League, a human rights activist, author, and journalist based in Austria. Email: nazrul@gmx.at)