We have failed to accurately represent Bangabandhu’s philosophy and vision to our students. For a long time, we have been giving them the wrong education. We have mistakenly presented a distorted history of our Liberation to them. Quite a few generations have grown up with this distorted perspective. We are gradually displacing ourselves from this position.
We will gradually resolve this situation by accurately presenting them the real facts of history. Teaching wrong history to confuse the generation is to confuse
oneself. Nevertheless, whatever happens, the truth will always be revealed. As in, when they will discover that they have been taught the wrong history, they will automatically come out of that distorted perspective. This is where our bravery is revealed, to recognize the wrong and to come out of it. It is impossible to misguide the generation for long. I’m extremely hopeful that history is being represented accurately to our students, so they will be able to quickly escape from this confusion.
We need to augment this scope of hope. As a people, we’ve had our fair share of blessings and hardships; we have hopes the same way as we have frustrations; we’ve had both joy and sadness. Nevertheless, we have to walk forward; and to do that we need self-confidence, self-respect and self-criticism. The Father of the Nation always said that for the Bangali people to move forward they need to be a people of self-criticism and self-esteem. I would urge everyone to pursue this ideal, so that they too would criticize themselves. Let us be free of our own dishonesty, corruption and live in a dignified way. An honorable, confident people can never fail. We have to grow as such.
Today’s youth will become tomorrow’s leaders. They will lead Bangladesh. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that they know about Bangladesh, to understand this nation. And to do that, they have to study Bangladesh’s history, Bangabandhu and the Liberation War. If students know the truth about this, they will never be led astray about the reality of our nation. Because it is a rare event in history that 3 million people gave their lives for a nation.
The country we are living in today was possible to be liberated thanks to the leadership of Bangabandhu and the sacrifice of 3 million people. If we remember the Father of our Nation, the sacrifice of the millions, it will be impossible to commit injustice. I have just one advice to the youth of our country – if they commemorate Bangabandhu and the sacrifice of the 3 million martyrs in their hearts, they will never get entangled with any injustice.
Based on an interview by Ashiq Rahman, translated by Abrar Hussain