A mother’s fury ignites iftar call to ban Hasina’s legacy

Parveen Akhter’s voice cracked with rage Saturday, slicing through the iftar hush at the National Press Club’s Abdus Salam Hall. “Sheikh Hasina’s plotting with Modi in Delhi—eight months, no trial for my son’s murder,” the mother of July martyr Mehdi Hasan spat. “If the government won’t act, we’ll judge her ourselves— pulling her in from Delhi.”  

The National Revolutionary Council’s iftar drew over 400—martyrs’ kin, injured fighters, politicians, professors, journalists—united in grief and grit. Parveen, honouring her son felled in the July uprising, didn’t mince words. “Where’s BNP, Jamaat, the people? Why’s Hasina still free, while Awami League threatens us?” Her demand: drag Hasina back, face justice—not exile.  

The hall echoed her fire. Families of the fallen—Shahadat Hossain Shaon’s parents, Shakil’s, Rana Talukder’s—joined citizens demanding Awami League’s ban as a “fascist” relic. 

They saluted the NRC’s 36-day sit-in at DU’s Raju Memorial Monument, urging it to press on until AL, Jatiya Party, and allies are outlawed. NRC leaders vowed an all-out push on 11 demands: a new constitution, Constituent Assembly polls, and national elections. Fascism’s finished, they said.  

Jagannath University’s Dr Bilal Hossain pitched “Bangladeshi Muslim nationalism” as the fight’s soul—a shield against Indian sway, blending faith and modernity for a self-reliant state. “It’s our geopolitical spine,” he said, framing a vision to rally the room. 

Chaired by Md Anisur Rahman and steered by Hasan Mohammad Arif, the evening pulsed with voices—DU’s Dr Aminur Rahman Majumder, AB Party’s Barrister Jobayer Ahmed Bhuiyan, and more—binding martyrs’ pain to a nation’s reboot.  

This wasn’t just iftar—it was a war cry. Parveen’s threat to “try” Hasina herself lit the fuse; the Council’s ban-or-bust stance fanned it. Will Dhaka’s streets—or Delhi’s shadows—answer? For now, the martyrs’ families wait, fists clenched, for justice or their own brand of it.