51st martyrdom anniversary of Bangabandhu today

Today is 15 August—the 51st death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On this day in 1975, Bangabandhu was brutally assassinated along with most of his family. The day remains one of the most painful chapters in the history of Bangladesh.

On the night of 15 August 1975, at Bangabandhu’s residence at 32 Dhanmondi, his wife Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Jamal, his youngest son Sheikh Russel, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosie Jamal, and Bangabandhu’s only brother, Sheikh Abu Naser, were also killed. Colonel Jamil, a security officer who came forward to protect Bangabandhu, SB officer Siddiqur Rahman, and army personnel Syed Mahbubul Haque were also killed that night.

The same night, an attack was carried out on the residence of Bangabandhu’s nephew, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni. Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni and his pregnant wife, Arzu Moni, were killed there. In an attack on the residence of Bangabandhu’s brother-in-law, Abdur Rab Serniabat, he was killed along with his daughter Baby, son Arif Serniabat, grandson Sukanta Babu, Serniabat’s elder brother’s son Sajib Serniabat, and a relative, Rentu Khan.

Bangabandhu’s two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, survived because they were in what was then West Germany at the time.

After the Awami League-led government came to power in 1996, 15 August was officially designated as National Mourning Day. In 2001, when the BNP-led four-party alliance government came to power, that decision was revoked. Later, in 2007, the caretaker government again decided to observe 15 August as National Mourning Day at the state level.

However, following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024, the interim government cancelled the observance of 15 August as National Mourning Day, as well as the government holiday associated with the occasion.

Previously, every year on 15 August, leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliated organisations, along with various social and cultural organisations, would pay tribute at Bangabandhu’s portrait at 32 Dhanmondi, at his mausoleum in Tungipara, and at the graves of those killed at Banani Cemetery. Special prayers, milad gatherings and other programmes were also held at various religious institutions.

After 5 August 2024, the house at 32 Dhanmondi was demolished. As a result, it was no longer possible to pay tribute there formally in the way it had been done in previous years. The site of the former residence now lies in a state of destruction and ruins.

The assassination of 15 August 1975 has had a profound and lasting impact on the political history of Bangladesh. Even 51 years later, the day remains an important and deeply painful chapter in the country’s history, politics and collective memory.