DHAKA< May 17: The 40th Homecoming Day of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being observed on Sunday.On this day in 1981, Sheikh Hasina returned home from India after nearly six years in exile following the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members by a cabal of army officers on August 15, 1975.
Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana survived as they were in Germany at the time.
Hasina was elected president of Awami League in her absence in the party’s national council held on February 14-16, 1981.
Awami League and its associate bodies mark the day every year through various programmes but this year the situation is different because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered her party to avoid political programmes this year, according to a post on Awami League’s website.
In a statement, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader asked the party’s activists and leaders to stay home and pray for Sheikh Hasina.
He also urged the party activists, affiliate bodies and the people to follow the prime minister’s directives in the crisis moment.