DHAKA, Nov 24, 2021 (BSS) – Veteran Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed, MP, today said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a leader of the world’s all oppressed people.

“Bangabandhu was not only a leader of the Bangalees but also a leader of all oppressed people of the world,” he said, taking part in a general discussion in parliament following a motion brought by Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, marking the golden jubilee of the country’s independence.

Earlier in the day, President Md Abdul Hamid delivered his speech on this occasion.

Tofail said Pakistani forces could not kill Bangabandhu before or during the country’s Liberation War but some black sheep killed the great leader along with most of his family members.

He said they took the ideology of liberation and the country’s independence backward by killing Bangabandhu.

As the qualified successor of her father, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brought back the country to the trend of the Liberation War’s spirit, the AL leader said.

The killers of Banglabandhu were brought to justice and even war criminals were punished and their trials still continue, he added.  

Tofail said after returning home on May 17 in 1981, Sheikh Hasina, holding the party’s flag, took the responsibility of the country through many movements and struggles.

He said since then, the AL president has been working for the welfare of the country and its people.

Under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has turned into a developing country and surpassed neighbouring the countries, including Pakistan, in many socioeconomic indexes, the AL leader said.

He said through his whole life, Bangabandhu dreamt of building a hunger- and poverty-free Bangladesh but the killers did not let him do that.

But, Tofail said, the country is now moving forward under the leadership of his worthy daughter, Sheikh Hasina.  

In the discussion, AL presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim said Bangabandhu means Bangladesh and its independence.

If the great leader was not born, Bangladesh could not achieve independence, he said.

Selim said some black sheep stigmatised the Bangalee nation by killing Bangabandhu and his family members in 1975.   

Treasury bench lawmakers Principal Abdus Shahid, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Benjir Ahmed, Mir Mushtaque Ahmed Robi, RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, Md. Shafiqur Rahman, Simeen Hussain (Rimi), Tahzeeb Alam Siddique, Shaimum Sarwar Kamal and Md Iqbal Hossain, Jatiya Party lawmakers Kazi Firoz Rashid, Sayed Abu Hossain and Shameem Haider Patwary, Ganoforum MP Sultan Muhammed Mansur Ahmed and independent lawmaker Md Rezaul Karim Bablu also took part in the discussion.