Sheikh Hasina’s 76th birthday: A steely resolve that sets her apart

GBNEWS24DESK//

She is no stranger to adversity. Her life has been plagued by tragedies. But none of those could break her resolve. Instead of being weighed down with personal grief, she devoted herself to fulfilling the dream of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her father and the architect of independent Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina has steered the nation through many troubled times, and today as she steps into the 76th year of her life, she faces another tricky task: helping the country ride out the economic gloom arising from the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.

On August 15, 1975, barely three and a half years after Bangabandhu shepherded the nation to liberation, his life came to an end when he along with most of his family members were killed. Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived as they were abroad when the atrocious killings took place.

The torchbearer for her father’s ideals, Hasina also survived 22 attempts on her life including the grisly grenade attack on August 21, 2004, and the massacre in Chittagong’s Laldighi in 1988.

Braving it all, she is still going strong in the pursuit of the “Sonar Bangla” her father dreamed of.

The eldest among five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, Hasina was born at Tungipara in Gopalganj on September 28, 1947, the year marking the births of two countries — India and Pakistan.

In 1968, she married nuclear scientist Dr Wazed Miah.

In 1981, while exiled in India, she was elected the president of the Awami League, one of the oldest political parties in the country. She has been leading the party since then and has taken it to power four times.

Her political career started much earlier though. She was involved with student politics while in college and was elected the vice-president of the students’ union at Government Intermediate College (now Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College) for the 1966-67 term.

She became the prime minister for the first time in 1996 and after that, she became prime minister in 2009, 2014 and 2019, becoming the country’s longest serving premier.

Hasina placed Vision 2021 in Awami League’s manifesto before the national election of 2008 with an aim to transform Bangladesh into a middle-income country.

She came up with Vision 2041 before the national election of 2014, this time aiming to eradicate poverty on way to becoming a developed nation by 2041.