MoFA releases video marking Bangabandhu's historic March 7 Speech

Public Diplomacy wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday released a video on historic 7th March Speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangabandhu delivered the historic 7th March Speech in 1971, which provided the utmost inspiration to the Bengali people in their quest for freedom and emancipation.

The landmark speech also energised the entire nation and prepared the people for the Liberation War in 1971.

The UN's educational, scientific and cultural agency, UNESCO, included the speech in the Memory of the World International Register, a list of world's important documentary heritage, in 2017.

At that time when the Pakistani military rulers refused to transfer power to the Bengali nationalist leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose party Awami League gained majority in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the general election held in 1970, the speech effectively declared the independence of Bangladesh, according to UNESCO.

The speech constitutes a faithful documentation of how the failure of post-colonial nation-states to develop inclusive, democratic society alienates their population belonging to different ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious groups.  

The speech was extempore and there was no written script. However, the speech survived in the audio as well as AV versions.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Embassy in Paris and Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to UNESCO have unveiled a book titled "The Historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: A World Documentary Heritage."

The book has been published in UN's all official languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The book, unveiled on Friday, contains special messages of President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Education Minister Dipu Moni.