Doctor Yunus seeks to “reset” past as he pivots to pro-Liberation War stance in final hour — a political stunt?

Special Correspondent

At the Armed Forces Day ceremony, Chief Advisor Dr. Yunus declared that he was “committed to building the dream state of the freedom fighters.” Although he had previously called the violence and anarchy of destroying the monuments of the Liberation War a “new path,” he said, “The students have chosen a new path, everything from the past is gone, the students have pressed the reset button.”

But as the final days of duty approach, with three months left until the election, is this promise just a marketing gimmick, or is it an attempt to deflect responsibility for a reality that conflicts with the dreams of the freedom fighters? This question has become the focus of national discussion today.

The question has arisen at a time when the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic Dhanmondi 32 house, known as the cradle of Bangladesh’s independence struggle, along with more than 3,000 memorials, sculptures, and murals commemorating the liberation war across the country, have been destroyed by extremists called students, supporters of Dr. Yunus.

Speaking at the Armed Forces Day ceremony at the Dhaka Cantonment, Dr. Yunus said, “I promise to make the dream of the freedom fighters a reality, a state where discrimination and oppression will not exist, but will be built on the basis of freedom and welfare.”

He also said, “From now on, the people will be the only source of power, and Bangladesh will be praised on the world stage as a humanitarian and welfare-oriented state.”

In this speech, he paid tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War and, referring to the role of the armed forces, said that they have always stood by the nation.

But in the context of this pledge, the question that has arisen in the minds of the people is the one that was asked to Dr. Yunus about ten months ago: “Students are destroying all the structures, sculptures, and murals that commemorate the Liberation War, they have destroyed the historic house-museum in Dhanmondi 32—how is this anarchy connected to the dreams of the freedom fighters?”

He then replied, “The students have chosen a new path, everything from the past is gone.” In this speech, he recognized the students’ anarchy as a ‘reset button’, which was tantamount to denying the glorious history and tradition of the Liberation War.

After the first round of arson and looting on August 5 last year, in the second round in February this year, Bangabandhu’s house and museum at Dhanmondi No. 32 were completely destroyed with bulldozers by extremist militants called students who support Dr. Yunus. Where the historical symbols of the Liberation War, the memories of Bangabandhu and his family and four national leaders were preserved. Nothing was saved.

In addition, the statues of Bangabandhu, national leaders and heroic freedom fighters have been broken across the country, the monuments of the Liberation War have been destroyed, and all establishments, memorials, and independence museums, including Mujibnagar, have been subjected to attacks, looting and terrorist attacks – these incidents were committed by those who led the overthrow of the Awami League government in July-August. They have brought the country to the brink of destruction.

Now the question arises: After destroying all the monuments and structures of the Liberation War, including the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, four national leaders, and denying the spirit of the Liberation War, how will Dr. Yunus realize the dreams of the freedom fighters? Can the dream of the Liberation War, which was built on secularism, democracy, equality and freedom, be ‘reset’ and rebuilt in the name of destruction? Or is he himself going to write a new history of the Liberation War, where today he himself brought forward a planned lie by claiming Ziaur Rahman as the proclaimer of independence.

Meanwhile, senior leaders of the Bangladesh Awami League, the party leading the liberation struggle, have criticized Dr. Yunus’s statement as a “historical denial.”

A heroic freedom fighter and senior Awami League leader said, “No new state can be built by destroying the monuments of the Liberation War; this is an attempt to cut off the roots of the nation.”

As Dr. Yunus’s interim government enters its final phase, with three months left before the elections, doubts have been raised about the reality of this promise. Is it just an attempt to abdicate responsibility or a wishful thinking? If the students who led the July riots dismiss the memory of the Liberation War as ‘the dust of the past’, what kind of dream state will they build?

Political analysts say this destructive denial will divide national unity and alienate the new generation from history.