"The BNP had established anti-independence forces and consciousness in the country from August '75 until the Awami League came to power in 1996," said Agriculture Minister and Awami League presidium member Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque MP. "It's a dark chapter in the history of '75 to '96," he said. At this time, anti-independence forces and communal consciousness were established everywhere by deliberately distorting and fragmenting the history of independence.
The Minister was speaking as the chief guest at a prayer meeting in memory of all the martyrs killed in the grenade attack on August 21 and National Mourning Day at the National Press Club on Monday. The event was organized by the Bangabandhu Cultural Alliance Central Committee.
The Agriculture Minister said that the massacres of August 15 and August 21 were tied in the same thread. The minister stressed on setting up a commission to unmask the culprit behind the attacks.
Healthy cultural activities should be spread to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War and to counter the rise of anti-liberation forces, the Minister further said that the first aggression against Bengalis was on the culture soon after the establishment of the religion-based state of Pakistan. Pakistan established communal consciousness by aggression on Bengali language, literature and culture.
He said the anti-independence and anti-liberation forces of Bangladesh still want to bring back that trend of Pakistan in the country. Therefore, in order to prevent the rise of anti-liberation forces and militancy-fanatics, it is necessary to spread healthy cultural activities among the people on a large scale.
The memorial meeting was presided over by Natyajan Falguni Hamid, president of Bangabandhu Cultural Alliance. Syeda Rubina Akhter Mira MP, Habibur Rahman, general secretary of the organization, Sujit Roy Nandi, relief and social welfare secretary of Awami League, Biswas Matiur Rahman, joint general secretary of Juba League and central leaders of the alliance attended the programme.
