7 November was a national awakening of soldiers and people against hegemony, Rizvi tells Mahila Dal meeting
Photo: Collected
BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said that on 7 November soldiers and the people took to the streets together against hegemony, and that it was a national awakening of the people. He said that it is from the inspiration of 7 November that we can still speak today, utter the truth and find the courage to stand against any autocrat.
He said these things while speaking as chief guest at a discussion meeting of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal on Friday (17 November).
According to Rizvi, the people of Bangladesh drew the inspiration to fight autocracy and fascism from the spirit of 7 November. The day is an important example in the country’s political history of establishing democracy, national independence and people’s rights.
In his view, although Bangladesh achieved geographical independence through the nine-month war in 1971, the real freedom and democratic rights of the people were not established. It was through 7 November that the path opened to establishing people’s freedom, civic rights, press freedom and multi-party democracy.
Rizvi also said state policy and foreign policy would not be run on anyone’s orders. He said the state will be run the way the people of the country decide. The rule of the people will be established, not one-person rule.
Noting that democracy came under attack again and again in later years, he said former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia struggled for nine long years to restore democracy. Democracy was re-established in 1990 under her leadership. Later, during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, the character of the state changed and allegations of enforced disappearances, secret killings and torture came to the fore.
Rizvi said BNP and pro-democracy people waged a long movement against Sheikh Hasina. He said students, workers, rickshaw pullers and people from various walks of life took part in the mass uprising of July-August 2024. It was through that movement that the autocratic rule came to an end.
Leaders and activists of BNP’s women’s wing, Mahila Dal, were present at the meeting.
At a glance
According to Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, the cabinet decided on 16 April 2026 to again observe 7 November as ‘National Revolution and Solidarity Day’ and to restore the public holiday on the day by placing it in category ‘A’. He said the day had not been observed at the state level for the previous 16 years, BSS reported on 16 April 2026.
Under a Ministry of Public Administration notification, 7 November will be a general holiday every year; however, as the day fell on a Saturday this year, government employees did not get an extra day off, Dhaka Times reported on 1 November 2026.
Sources
Background sources: BSS, 16 April 2026; Dhaka Times, 1 November 2026
