Election Manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League 2018

Bangladesh Awami League

বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী লীগ

২৩, বঙ্গবন্ধু এভিনিউ, রমনা, ঢাকা। সভাপতির কার্যালয় বাড়ি-৫১/এ, সড়ক-৩/এ, ধানমন্ডি আ/এ, ঢাকা।

শেখ হাসিনা
গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকারের মাননীয় প্রধানমন্ত্রী

Declaration of Election Manifesto

Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh achieved independence under the leadership of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He dreamed of establishing a hunger-poverty-free, prosperous ‘Golden Bangla.’

He took on the responsibility of ruling a war-ravaged country plagued by hunger and poverty. He had only three years, seven months, and three days to lead the country. In 1972, the per capita income was 91 USD. The Father of the Nation raised it to 277 USD in 1975 in just three years. Bangladesh achieved 9 percent growth by his leadership. In this short period of time, he raised Bangladesh from the ruins to the status of a least-developed country. The Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was brutally assassinated on August 15, 1975, by the merciless bullets of the assassins. The killer took away all the prospects of Bangladesh’s development and the spirit of great independence.

I recall with deep gratitude the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I pay my tributes to the four national leaders, three million martyrs, and two hundred thousand dishonored mothers and sisters. I salute the brave freedom fighters.

Recalling with deep sorrow – my mother, Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib, three younger brothers – valiant freedom fighter Captain Sheikh Kamal and valiant freedom fighter Lieutenant Sheikh Jamal, my ten-year-old younger brother Sheikh Russel; Kamal and Jamal’s newlywed wife Sultana Kamal and Parveen Jamal, my only uncle crippled freedom fighter, Sheikh Abu Nasser, President’s Military Secretary Brigadier General Jamil Uddin Ahmed, police officer ASI Siddiqur Rahman and all the martyrs who were brutally assassinated on August 15.I pray for the forgiveness of all those departed souls.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On this day, I respectfully recall the founding president of Awami League, one of the oldest political parties in this subcontinent, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, founding General Secretary Shamsul Haque, the idol worshiper of democracy Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkbagish and all the late leaders of Awami League. I pay deep respect to the language martyrs who have sacrificed their lives to protect the dignity of our mother tongue, Bengali.

I was recalling Awami League leader Ivy Rahman and 22 leaders and activists who were killed in the grenade attack on August 21, 2004.

I recall all those who sacrificed their lives in the various democratic movements before and after our independence and the struggle for the right to vote and food.

Dear Countrymen,

My younger sister and I were abroad when the Father of the Nation and most of our family members were brutally killed on August 15, 1975. That is why we are alive. For six long years, we were forced to live in exile as refugees. The then-military ruler Ziaur Rahman created obstacles to come to our homeland. I returned to Bangladesh in 1981 with the support of its people and the Bangladesh Awami League. I came back to the country, ignoring the bloodshot eyes of the illegitimate ruling government, the assassins and conspirators of the Father of the Nation, and the war criminals. After that, I started the struggle to establish people’s right to ballot and bread, and for that, I was targeted and hit again and again. I protested against the military regime for the democratic rights of the people and was arrested many times. At least 19 attempts have been made to kill me. But I didn’t give up. Finally, I was able to return the right to vote to the people. Twenty-one years after the tragedy of 1975, Bangladesh Awami League formed the government by winning the general elections on 12th June 1996. This brought an end to killings, military cue, and military rule.

After completing a five-year term from 23 June 1996 to 15 July 2001, the Awami League handed over power peacefully for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. During 1996-2001, we made the country self-sufficient in food by increasing the production of rice and pulses. Increase enrollment rate, increase power generation, take up social security programs, introduce old age, widower, and disabled allowances, and provide collateral-free agricultural loans to farmers.

In the National Parliament Elections held on 1stOctober2001, the BNP Jamaat alliance came to power by promising to sell gas, the country’s only natural resource. While they were in power, extreme corruption, misrule, murder, and rape were started. Including Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Buddhist, innumerable Awami League leaders and activists were subjected to inhumane torture. They established a reign of murder, terror, and disappearances in the entire country.