"The Historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman" was delivered by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 7th March, 1971 who led the people of Bangladesh to independence in 1971. At that time when the Pakistani military rulers refused to transfer power to the Bengali nationalist leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose party Awami League gained majority in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the general election held in 1970. The speech effectively declared the independence of Bangladesh. The speech constitutes a faithful documentation of how the failure of post-colonial nation-states to develop inclusive, democratic society alienates their population belonging to different ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious groups. The speech was extempore and there was no written script. However, the speech survived in the audio as well as AV versions. On 30 October 2017, UNESCO added the speech in the Memory of the World Register as a documentary heritage.

Photos: © Bangladesh Betar,Bangladesh Film Archive,Liberation War Museum,Department of Films and Publications