The post - ’75 movement against autocracy and for the restoration of democracy

The anti-liberation reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces usurped the state-power through the  assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975. For the subsequent 15 years, Bangladesh was ruled by the  same forces sometimes under a civilian guise, sometimes under military dictatorship. Khandakar Mushtaq one of  the chief conspirators behind the Bangabandhu killing ruled for a few months (1975) before being ousted by  General Zia who ruled till 1981. After he was murdered in an abortive coup, Justice Sattar came to power  (1981-82). General Ershad ousted the elected government of Sattar and assumed power in 1982 and continued his  military rule upto 1990. In 1990, he was forced to stepdown through mass-upheaval which reminded many of the  mass-upsurge of 1969 against Ayub Khan. During these 15 years, the successive rulers tried their utmost to  obliterate the memories of Liberation War efface the name of Bangabandhu from the mind of the public,  sheltered and even rewarded the killers of Bangabandhu, allowed the communal polities to operate freely.  Coups, conspiracies, social anarchy and corruption held unhindered sway in the country. In the elections of  1991, Khaleda Zia’s Party BNP was voted to power. Like the earlier regimes, Khaleda Zia’s government pursued  the same policies.

During these dark years of our national life, Awami League had the self imposed task of fighting for  democratic rights of the people. After 15th August 1975, there came another cataclysmic event that struct  Awami League very seriously and led to a temporary vaccum in the leadership: four national leader, Syed  Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M. Mansur Ali and A.H.M. Kamaruzzaman were killed in Dhaka Central Jail by the  same conspirators who had killed Bangabandhu.