Hasina vows to uphold secular spirit of Nazrul

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday vowed to work for the country's development in the non-communal spirit of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and build a hunger and poverty free middle-income country by 2021 and a prosperous developed country by 2041.

She was addressing the inaugural ceremony for the national level celebration of the poet's 116th birth anniversary at Comilla Town Hall Ground.

Reiterating her government's plan for decentralisation of power, she said another new division would be set up in greater Comilla.

About the slogan "Joy Bangla" that had encouraged the whole country during the Liberation War, Hasina said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman picked that slogan from a poem of Nazrul although many had criticised it as a "Hindu Slogan" then.

Paying her rich tributes to the poet, she said Comilla carried many memories of the poet, as he spent a very significant time of his life there.  The cultural ministry organised the programme.