Interim government adviser Mahfuj Alam yesterday said that members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's party and family should acknowledge, apologise, and face accountability for Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian rule.
"They should also recognise, apologise, and face trials for his daughter's fascist regime. She has made Sheikh Mujib a subject of sarcasm and ridicule. They should abandon the politics of Mujibism and the idolisation of the Sheikh family," he wrote in his verified Facebook post early today.
He said Sheikh Mujib and his daughter have faced the people's wrath and anger for their respective fascist regimes and the only difference is that, unlike Hasina, Sheikh Mujib was once a popular demagogue of the eastern Bengal masses.
"The masses followed him against Pakistani tyranny, but he became a tyrant himself after '71. Due to his support and patronage of Mujibism, Bangladesh became crippled and divided after '71. For his fascist role, people didn't mourn his death in 1975," he said.
He added that Sheikh Mujib would be honoured for his pre-'71 role if his party and family members apologise to the people of Bangladesh for his post-'71 actions, including mass killings, enforced disappearances, corruption, famine, and the 1972 Constitution, which paved the way for BAKSHAL.
He further said that Sheikh Mujib's photo was removed by officers because of his daughter's "fascist rule" in the name and spirit of her post-'71 "authoritarian father".
"Her (Sheikh Hasina) father was deified, but the people of Bangladesh brought down both their pictures, murals, and sculptures altogether after the July Uprising. If someone deplores the removal of the Sheikhs' photos from public offices, they should condemn this mass uprising and the people's spirit," he wrote.
"We must remember that history can't be erased, and we are here to reconcile historical anomalies and misattributions. The '71 Liberation War belongs to the people of Bangladesh. Again, any liberation warrior who did wrong after '71 should be tried and punished," the post read.
"They shouldn't be exempted from their role in the liberation war," he added.
"Bangladesh shall rise above the deification and feuds among ruling families. The spirit of July, '47, and '71 should remain in our collective memory!" the post added.