"Father of the Nation Will Not Be Determined by a Fascist Party": Adviser Asif

Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, adviser to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, stated that it is the people of a country—not a fascist political party—who decide who will be the Father of the Nation.

He made this remark in a Facebook post from his personal account on Wednesday, October 16.

Asif wrote, "If the people of this country considered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the Father of the Nation, they wouldn’t have demolished his statue during the revolutionary student uprising on August 5. Sheikh Mujib is not the Father of the Nation but rather a symbolic tool of Awami fascism."

Previously, Mohammad Nahid Islam, an adviser to the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Broadcasting, said that the interim government does not recognize Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of the Nation.

He made the statement in response to a question from journalists at a press briefing at the Secretariat.

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"The Awami League has made Sheikh Mujib controversial. When asked whether we consider him the Father of the Nation, the answer is simple: Awami League ruled with fascist practices, by suppressing voting rights, carrying out abductions, killings, and committing massacres. So, any decisions they made—who they called the Father of the Nation or which days they declared as national holidays—won’t carry forward in the new Bangladesh. We want to rebuild the country with a new perspective on history."

Addressing journalists, Nahid added, "If you consider everything the Awami League did as ‘national,’ remember that even the government without elections had no legitimacy. Much of what was done during that time will now be re-evaluated and restructured."

When asked if the new government recognizes Sheikh Mujib as the Father of the Nation, Nahid firmly replied, "Absolutely not."

When pressed further about whether the country will have any Father of the Nation, he said, "Our struggle has many contributors. Our history does not begin in 1952 alone. We also have the anti-British movements, the struggles of 1947, 1971, and the protests of 1990 and 2024. There are many founding fathers whose efforts led to our independence."

Regarding the cancellation of eight national holidays, Nahid commented, "The fascist Awami League imposed their own holidays, which we won’t retain. March 7 is significant, but it doesn't warrant being a national holiday. The Awami League distorted many holidays. They even made statues of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and worshipped them."