Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman[c] (also known as Sheikh Mujib or Bangabandhu; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975) was the founder of Bangladesh. Mujib restored Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757.[5] He first served as the titular president of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh between April 1971 and January 1972. He then served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh from the Awami League between January 1972 and January 1975. He finally served as President again during BAKSAL from January 1975 till his assassination in August 1975.[6][7] In 2011, the 15th constitutional amendment in Bangladesh referred to Sheikh Mujib as the Father of the Nation who declared independence; these references were enshrined in the fifth, sixth, and seventh schedules of the constitution.
A populist of the 20th century, Sheikh Mujib was one of the most charismatic leaders of the Third World in the early 1970s. Mujib succeeded in normalizing diplomatic ties with most of the world, with a policy of friendship to all and malice to none. He signed a friendship treaty with India, joined the Commonwealth, NAM and the OIC, opposed apartheid and dispatched an army medical unit during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Mujib's legacies include the secularist Constitution of Bangladesh and the transformation of East Pakistan's state apparatus, bureaucracy, armed forces, and judiciary into an independent Bangladeshi state. He gave the first Bengali speech to the UN General Assembly in 1974. Mujib's five-year regime was also the only socialist period in Bangladesh's history. In 1975, Mujib installed a one party state which lasted for seven months until his assassination.
Mujib's legacy remains divisive among Bangladeshis due to his economic mismanagement, the Bangladesh famine of 1974, human rights violations, and authoritarianism. Most Bangladeshis credit him for leading the country to independence in 1971. Many within and outside Bangladesh call him Bangabandhu (Bengali: বঙ্গবন্ধু, romanized: Bôṅgôbôndhu[d], lit. 'Friend of Bengal') out of respect. In a 2004 BBC opinion poll, Mujib was voted as the Greatest Bengali of all time and ranked first on the list followed by Asia's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (2nd) and Bangladeshi national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (3rd).[9] Mujib's 7 March speech in 1971 is recognized by UNESCO for its historic value, and enshrined in the Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific.[10] His diaries and travelogues were published many years after his death and have been translated into several languages.
