National mourning day

No doubt, a personality like Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will have his share of detractors as well as admirers. He will be judged as well as misjudged. Some will treat him fairly while some unfairly. Some will be inclined to seeing him with a jaundiced eye while others may be subjectively disposed towards assessing his character and his contributions, his foibles and fortes. This is but only inevitable and is naturally associated with a political leader of the stature of Mujib.

But, whatever may have been his imperfections, nothing can justify the senseless and brutal killing, that perhaps ranks among one of the most heinous acts of recent times, of Mujib and his entire family save two. What is even more unacceptable is the fact that the killers have so far not been called to account for their crime, they have so far gone unpunished, and from what one observes of the legal process thus far, they may not have to face punishment at all.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The farce that the trial of the killers has been reduced to by frequent 'embarrassment' of the judges and the inordinate delay in appointment of judges to hear the case are but regrettable, and we can hardly keep ourselves from expressing our deep sense of disgust at this.

Let there be no doubt that Bangabandhu is a colossus whose place in history can hardly be questioned. But we entreat all concerned to keep him out of, and above, all controversies. It is unfortunate that it is the deification of Mujib by the Awami League that has stood in the way of making an objective analysis of the great man. On the other hand, the deliberate and planned vilification and denigration of Mujib by the BNP and the alliance is a singularly shameful episode in our annals. Both these tendencies have prevented his being accorded the rightful place in history.

Nobody can contest the fact that Bangabandhu played the most pivotal role in galvanising and uniting the nation and leading it eventually to a free Bangladesh. Let us not hesitate nor waver to accord him his rightful place in history. If we did so, we would only belittle ourselves.