The parliament on Thursday played the recorded speech of country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made on January 25, 1975 before passing the 4th Amendment that introduced the one-party BKSAL rule in Bangladesh and brought the judiciary under the president’s control.
The speech of Sheikh Mujib was played by speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on the giant screen of the house on request of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also the elder daughter of Sheikh Mujib.
Sheikh Hasina, president of the ruling Awami League, told the parliament that her father introduced the system to unite the nation and ensure a speedy economic emancipation.
She said that Sheikh Mujib wanted to decentralise power though he failed to make the people aware of his move as he was killed on August 15, 1975.
She said that some people defamed Sheikh Mujib for the move as they failed to comprehend it.
With the speech Sheikh Mujib announced the formation of the only legal political party of the country named Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League or BKSAL in short.
The announcement automatically abolished all other political parties of the country, eventually making the other parties that did not join the BKSAL outlawed.
Hasina said that her father had formed the BKSAL aimed at uniting the nation, but the whole idea was wrongly interpreted.
She said that Sheikh Mujib had made a call for unity of all classes of people.
Sheikh Mujib, she went on, had taken an outstanding step to bring about a change in the lot of all people, including the poor.
She said, ‘But widespread criticisms started for the steps he had taken. Many things were said, such as he had moved to establish a one-party rule and wanted to take the power in his grip.’
According to Banglapedia, BKSAL was the only legally recognised party of Bangladesh founded on June 7, 1975 following the 4th Amendment.
Under the Amendment (Article 117A), Sheikh Mujib was entrusted with the responsibility of forming a new ‘national party’ which would try to tackle the social, political and economic destabilisation consequent upon the war of liberation on the one hand, and on the other, reconstruct the nation from the debris of the war, said Banglapedia.
