Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Presidium Member, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB):
We all have to fill the void left by Bangabandhu as a great personality like him may not come. The assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975 is a painful incident. It was not merely a political killing and it was not only a changeover of state power, the newly born country was moved back to the period of 1947.
We fought for a secular state and secularism was included in the country’s constitution. But the August 15 carnage was orchestrated to remove secularism from the country’s constitution. Bangladesh shifted its stand following the assassination of Bangabandhu. Earlier, Bangladesh was in the Indian block and moved to the American block after the killing.

The killing was not merely a transfer of power from a person to another. Nothing remains a vacuum in the world. A great personality like Bangabandhu may not come but we all have to fill the vacuum.

We have to bring back the secularism. The struggle for emancipation has not ended yet. We have to fight for establishing socialism. We have to continue our struggle for democracy. We have moved far away from the spirit of the Liberation War. We have to think seriously over these issues and work for them.

Based on an interview by Ashiq Rahman, translated by Hossen Sohel