DACCA: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became President of the Republic of Bangladesh today [Jan 25] after Parliament, by a sweeping majority, replaced the country’s Constitution by a one-party presidential form of government. Sheikh Mujib, 54, in a valedictory speech to Parliament as Premier, described the constitutional change as a second revolution. … He said he had experimented for the last three years with a Constitution that gave some people unbridled liberty. He also described the three-year-old Constitution as a legacy of colonial rule which cannot run a country having an individual identity and inspiration.

After being sworn in at a brief ceremony in Parliament Sheikh Mujib said in a voice shaking with emotion, “an international clique is making Bangladesh a playground”. He warned “those who are in the pay of foreign powers”. … The Constitution announced today says that no citizen of Bangladesh would have the right to become a member of any other political party except the planned national party, and all MPs should become members of it. The new constitution also provides that a parliamentarian will lose his seat if he does not join the national party.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025