The blood sacrificed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and millions of martyrs must be repaid by working for Bangladesh's development and people's welfare, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday.

Addressing a blood donation programme the public administration ministry organised in the capital's Bangladesh Secretariat, she said, “Bangabandhu was not assassinated just for power...the killing was carried out to destroy the spirit and ideology of our Liberation War.” She said that the killing blocked all of Bangladesh's paths towards progress.

“The country's ideology was diverted, its constitution was put under the knife of martial law ordinances...all the ideologies were destroyed one by one,” said Hasina, Bangabandhu's eldest daughter.

She said her prime task now was to bring smiles to the faces of the poor people for whom the family sacrificed their lives, and free Bangladesh from poverty and hunger.

Hasina said she has been working hard defying all odds and obstacles to materialise Bangabandhu's dream and “...put the country in such a place where people will march forward keeping their heads high without depending on anyone”. She sought the cooperation of all in building a middle-income digital nation by 2021.

A total of 422 government officials donated blood.