Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said Bangladesh is being built imbued with the non-communal spirit of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. 

‘Nazrul was motivated by non-communal spirit. So, we’re building Bangladesh with this non-communal spirit. Non-communal spirit is reflected in our principle and ideology where people, irrespective of their race and religion, will enjoy equal rights,’ she said, reports the UNB.

‘So, we hope you’ll work with the same (non-communal) spirit,’ she said pointing at fresh graduates at a special convocation ceremony of Kazi Nazrul University (KNU).

Sheikh Hasina was addressing the function after receiving Doctor of Literature (DLitt) degree from the university at Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district.

The KNU authorities conferred the honorary DLitt degree upon Hasina in recognition of her outstanding contributions towards building exploitation and disparity-free society, which is the ideal of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Hasina said non-communalism and humanity were reflected in verses and works of Kazi Narul Islam, known as Rebel Poet.

‘I would like to request you to put humanity above everything in every sphere of life, not only in workplaces,’ she told the fresh graduates.

The Prime Minister said though the Bangla was parted, but the two great poets –Nazrul and Rabindranath were not divided. ‘They belong to the two Banglas (Bangladesh and West Bengal).’                      

She said Nazrul’s spirit will remain for ages as source of inspiration for people to work for the welfare of the human being.

Talking about this region, Hasina said, ‘In case of all development plans, we are not thinking for only Bangladesh rather this subcontinent. We want to make this subcontinent a developed and prosperous one freeing it from poverty and hunger.’

‘Many problems we’ve already solved. But we’ll have to think mostly for the welfare of people, rather than the problems,’ she added.

About Rohingya, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh has provided shelter to 1.1 million Rohingyas on humanitarian ground. ‘We want a quick solution to the crisis. We want that our young generation will be protected from clash, conflict, terrorism, militancy and drugs.’

Expressing her heartfelt thanks to the university authorities for conferring this honorary degree, she dedicated the honour to the people of Bangladesh and all Bangalis.

She showed her deep respect to the memories of Bangladesh’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam on the occasion of his 119th birth anniversary.

The Prime Minister said there are many resemblances between the characters of poet Nazrul Islam and Father of the Nation Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. ‘One person was a poet of literature, while another was a political poet.’

She said Nazrul was born in India, but he is the national poet of Bangladesh. His poems were sources of inspiration during the 1971 Liberation War.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman brought poet Nazrul to Dhaka after the Liberation War. Bangabandhu also awarded citizenship to the great poet and declared him as the National Poet of Bangladesh.

Though Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in Churulia, the poet roamed around the whole Bangla. He spent his time with people in many places in Bangladesh.

West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee also spoke on the occasion, while Vice Chancellor of the Kazi Nazrul University Dr Sadhan Chakrabarti delivered the welcome speech.

Sheikh Hasina arrived here on Friday on a two-day official visit to India at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Friday, Hasina along Narendra Modi unveiled the plaque of Bangladesh Bhaban at Vivsa-Bharati University in Santiniketan.