Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday wrote to foreign dignitaries including her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari informing them about the rearrangement of the opening ceremony of the ‘Mujib Year’ on March 17.
The grand event which was scheduled to be held at the National Parade Ground was postponed on Sunday after the confirmation of the presence of COVID-19 in Bangladesh following the detection of three patients. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told Bangladesh Post that they had sent the letter of the Prime Minister about the new decision of rearranging the opening of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to all the VVIPs.
He, however, declined to make further comments whether those dignitaries would still come to Dhaka since the government did not postpone the entire event. Instead, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, the chief coordinator of the committee to implement year-long birth centenary programmes, on Monday after a meeting said they would hold the programme in small scale but would connect people across Bangladesh through televisions, online and social media.
“A technical committee led by former cultural minister Asaduzzaman Noor has been formed in this regard,” he told journalists after the meeting at the Institute of International Mother Language in Dhaka. When asked, he, however, said that state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam, who is also a member of the new technical committee, would inform media about the foreign dignitaries’ issue on Tuesday.
Earlier on Sunday, considering current global corona virus crisis, Bangladesh has decided to avoid any large gatherings to celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu for the time being. Events not involving large gatherings and other initiatives will continue as planned. Major events involving the mass and international guests will be arranged once the global health situation permits, the government had announced.
This direction was given by the Prime Minister herself at Ganabhaban during a joint meeting of the National Committee and National Implementation Committee, said the chief of the committee. Bangabandhu’s daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana told the members of those committees that ‘Bangabandhu devoted his entire life to serve the people. We cannot possibly hold any events to celebrate his birthday that compromises the people’s welfare’.
The foreign minister, however, expected the invited foreign dignitaries to join the celebrations anytime of the Mujib Year from March 2020 to March 2021.
