DHAKA, April 13, 2022 (BSS) - The government has declared April 17 as a public holiday in Mujibnagar upazila of Meherpur district marking the celebration of the historic 'Mujibnagar Day'.

"April 17, 2022 has been declared as a public holiday in Mujibnagar upazila of Meherpur district as part of the national programmes taken by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs to celebrate the historic Mujibnagar Day," said an official handout here today.
 
The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification in this regard, it added. 

On this day (April 17) in 1971, the provisional government-in-exile took oath at Baidyanathtala, a border area in the present Meherpur district.
 
Baidyanathtala, mainly a mango orchard, was later named Mujibnagar after ceremonial formation of the provisional government of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was declared the first president of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, while Syed Nazrul Islam was appointed the acting president in the absence of Bangabandhu.
 
Tajuddin Ahmed was appointed as the first prime minister, while Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, Capt. M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzaman were named as cabinet members.