August 1975: The canon event of a superhero's life
If we analyse the aftermath of 15 August 1975 from Sheikh Hasina’s perspective, it was undoubtedly the kind of event in her life that determined, more than anything else, who she would end up being over the years
A canon event involves an occurrence or event that can alter one's experience or way of life in big or small ways. A canon event is important because it includes trials and challenges that are beneficial, if not necessary, to one's character development.
And if we analyse the aftermath of 15 August 1975 from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's perspective, it was undoubtedly the kind of event in her life that determined, more than anything else, who she would end up being over the years.
More importantly, the crime did not just kill Hasina's father or almost her entire family, but it also changed the ideology of Bangladesh's Liberation War. Everything changed in just one night. And those killers were still hunting her, trying to find where she was. She even had to change her name at one point.
Sheikh Hasina wasn't even supposed to survive the brutality if she was staying at the Dhanmondi 32 residence that fateful day. But she, alongside her sister Sheikh Rehana, luckily survived because they were in Belgium at the residence of Ambassador Sanaul Haque.
Hasina was also accompanied by her husband Wazed Miah and two children, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, who were just four and three years old, respectively. But that could hardly be a consolation for her as she lost not just one or two, but as many as 18 members of her family.
No wonder this tragedy would leave her with a devastating impact that she had to carry in her heart throughout her life. And to add insult to the injury, the possibility of either an exile for an indefinite period or the same fate like her parents and other family members was also looming large.
The news of the assassination of the legendary statesman Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib first came to Hasina from Bonn, the capital of then West Germany on the morning of 15 August, when Ambassador Humayun Rashid Chowdhury called the house of Sanaul Haque to pass on the unexpected news.
But even at that time, Hasina had no clue that the other members of her family had also been assassinated.
After this, Hasina was moved from Brussels to Ambassador Chowdhury's residence in Bonn. From there, she got the latest information of the situation in Bangladesh on BBC, Voice of America and other radio stations, finally realising that her whole family in Dhaka had been killed off.
In the meantime, Ambassador Chowdhury secretly began to search from 16 August if the two surviving daughters of Bangabandhu could be given political asylum in any country.
When the higher authorities in Delhi got to know about it, they gave it topmost priority. Within two days, they informed that preparations should be made to send Hasina and Rehana to Delhi as soon as possible.
However, they also made sure that the mission should be carried out secretly, and that Hasina should be sent directly to Delhi on an Air India plane.
Thus she left Frankfurt for Delhi on the afternoon of 24 August and arrived in Delhi in the early hours of 25 August.
Here she would have to live for nearly six years. While she fought her inner demons to remain sane, she also remained alert about her and her family's security all the time, which meant she wasn't able to lead a normal life or mingle with ordinary people.
Hasina and her family were first kept in a 'safe house' at 56, Ring Road. Soon after, they were evacuated to a house in Defence Colony with three instructions: first, they shouldn't go out of the house; second, they should not reveal their real identities to anyone; and third, they should not keep in touch with anyone in Delhi.
After 10 days, on 4 September 1975, Hasina was taken to the then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's official residence at Safdarjung Road. Ten more days later, they were given shelter in a flat in C Block of Pandara Park with three bedrooms, some furniture and a black-and-white television set. No telephone connection was given at that time.
The family would have to spend their days under tight security measures with both security forces and intelligence operatives watching over them closely.
In the meantime, Hasina's husband Wazed Miah, who had been working as a nuclear scientist in West Germany, took up a job at the Atomic Energy Commission of New Delhi and continued working there till 1982.
Necessary measures were also taken so that Hasina's son Joy could continue his education in India. He went to several boarding schools, including Kodaikanal International School at Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu and St Joseph's College in Nainital. Then he started studying computer science at the University of Bangalore, and later transferred to the University of Texas at Arlington, USA.
Throughout her stay at Delhi, Hasina could not get in touch with any ordinary people owing to security reasons. All she could do was meet a handful of journalists, politicians and bureaucrats. But she developed a good bonding with Pranab Mukherjee (who later became India's President) and his family.
It may come as a surprise to many, but Sheikh Hasina opted to remain away from politics during most of the time of her stay in Delhi. Probably a big reason behind this was that India too was going through an emergency period (25 June 1975 and ended on 21 March 1977). So, as per the directives from the Indian government, Hasina couldn't get involved with politics.
Nevertheless, senior Awami League leaders would often visit Hasina's house and try to persuade her to take over the baton of Awami League's leadership. In 1979, they repeatedly tried to bring Hasina back to Bangladesh so that she could help the party during its electoral campaigns.
But due to the then Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman, no remaining member of the Mujib family could enter Bangladesh.
However, Hasina travelled to different countries during this time and even addressed a public meeting in London's York Hall on 16 August 1980, demanding punishment of her father's killers.
One simply can't overlook the fact that Sheikh Hasina was going through a psychological turmoil that is humanly impossible to handle. All through her time in India, she was so upset that even the faintest mention of her deceased family would turn out to be a big trigger to her.
She was struggling to come to terms with the fact that she had lost everyone but her sister in 1975, and this memory was haunting her like a ghost.
At one point, the situation went so out of hand that Hasina's husband Wazed Miah would request everyone coming to see her to not raise any issue regarding 15 August in front of her.
Now, this is even a more severe 'childhood trauma' than what we are used to seeing superheroes deal with in comics or films. But that Hasina overcame all this trauma to turn into what she is today would be to say the least.
Even without her presence in the country, Hasina was unanimously elected as the President of Bangladesh Awami League on 16 February 1981. And then, on 16 May 1981, she returned to her homeland Bangladesh after a long time.
This time, she was certainly mentally stronger and a more determined person. What happened in 1975 did not become a thing of the past for her. Rather, she mourns the tragedy every single day.
But the fact of the matter is, Hasina invested six years in Delhi to gather herself from the broken pieces she had become and after coming back to Bangladesh from exile, she followed the footsteps of her father to dedicate her whole life to the welfare of the people of Bangladesh.
Ever since, she has taken the helm of the country, and has been taking the nation to newer heights.
But according to Hasina's own words, she never thought of doing something like this in her life. During her stay in Delhi, although she wanted to return to the country, she never thought about taking responsibility of such a big political party.
But then again, she had to do it because the 1975 tragedy meant she had the motivation of bringing the culprits to justice and pursuing her father's unfulfilled dreams.
We will never know where Bangladesh would come to be today if Bangabandhu and his family members were not killed in 1975. But what we know for sure is that the canon event in 1975 has made Sheikh Hasina, the supreme leader of the country, what she is today.