Immortalising the tales of 1971

1971 was the most bitter-sweet moment for the Bengali nation. A period when in history we rose together against tyranny and clinched freedom from a stronger oppressive force. The overwhelming impact of that event on our nation is built on the back of countless stories of personal glory and sacrifices.  

Millions of people gave up their lives and countless others fought against an enemy that was hell-bent on destroying our existence. But how many of us, young and old alike, know the stories of the freedom fighters? These brave souls risked everything to bring freedom for us and silently returned to their own lives after the war. Even four decades after the Liberation War, their stories remain mostly untold.

While we head towards securing our rightful place among the nations of the world, many of these heroes live in silence. With the passing of each freedom fighter, the nation loses their story. For children of today the chance of meeting a freedom fighter is rare. The only way of learning about the Liberation War is either newspaper articles and books or a few movies. Outside the domain of movies and literature, there is a whole world of stories which the nation has never heard.

Before the remaining stories of 1971 pass into oblivion, Grameenphone, in partnership with the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has taken an initiative named Ekattorer Kotha “Birotter Kotha, Bir Der Mukhe”, to collect stories from freedom fighters across the country and create a digital video archive of their stories.

The initiative will keep the inspiring tales of 1971 alive, and pass those tales across to the generations to come.

As part of the initiative, twenty teams are travelling across 64 districts of the country and collecting stories from state-accredited freedom fighters.

On the upcoming Independence Day, March 26, Grameenphone will hand over the entire repository to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. Ekattorer Kotha will be accessible to all people around the world who wish to know about the valiant freedom fighters of Bangladesh.

People from Bangladesh and all over the world can also participate in this initiative by sending the stories or information regarding the freedom fighters, just by logging on to www.ekattorerkotha.com. Our team will collect the stories in video format after they are verified by our liberation war historian panel.

Since we will probably be the last generation to hear the stories directly from the freedom fighters, recording these stories is the only way to immortalize these tales and preserve them for the coming generations. Not only will it be a significant document of the Liberation War, but also it will inspire the next generation to go beyond.

The writer is Chief Marketing Officer, Grameenphone.