The High Court has directed the government to include the historic March 7 speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the textbooks of all levels of education.

A division bench comprising Justice FRM Nazmul Ahsan and Justice Shahed Nur Uddin passed the order on Wednesday, following a writ petition filed by senior lawyer Md Bashir Ahmed.

The apex court asked for installation of a finger-raising sculpture of Bangabandhu associated with March 7 speech at the Suhrawardy Udyan.  The HC asked the government to constitute a committee to erect the sculpture.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered his historic speech at a mammoth rally in the then ‘Race Course Maidan’, now Suhrawardy Udyan, directing freedom-loving Bangalees to wage a decisive struggle against the Pakistani occupation forces.

The speech is treated as Magna Carta for the emancipation of Bangladesh and its people.

On October 30, 2017, UNESCO added the speech in the Memory of the World Register as a documentary heritage.

The High Court, on February 25, 2020, asked the government to declare the March 7 as the “National Historic Day.”

The court also issued a rule upon the government to explain as to why it shall not be directed to set up  Bangabandhu’s speech-mode sculpture and a museum at the place where the March 7 Speech was delivered.

Six secretaries, including that of the Cabinet, Finance, Public Works, Culture and Education, were made respondents to the rule.