January 10, 1972 is the historic home- coming day of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On that day, Indian diplomat Shashank Shekhar Banerjee was accompanied Bangabandhu in a British Air Force Comet Jet from London.
He wrote in his book 'Bangabandhu and National Anthem' - "Bangabandhu came to VIP Lounge at London Heathrow Airport on January 10. He was welcomed by British Foreign and Commonwealth Department Officer Ian Sutherland and Indian High Commissioner to London Apa B. Panthe.
Seeing me, Sheikh Mujib said, Banerjee, you are here too!
At that time there was Indira-Mujib telephone talk.. Then I left for Bangladesh. The aircraft was flying taking fuel from the Middle East. Bangabandhu stared at the white cloud through the window. After a while he began to sing, ' Amar Sonar Bangala Ami Tomai Bhalobanshi'. He said, Banerjee, you too. Take the rehearsal. Then I was surprised and said, "This song will be the national anthem of Bangladesh." How would you say? "
Shashank replied, "For the first time in history, Rabindranath Tagore will be the same person for the national anthem of two countries."
Why Bangabandhu made this song the national anthem?
In 1956 the session of the Pakistan National Assembly was held in Dhaka. A function was held at Curzon Hall in honor of the members of parliament from the West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Member of the National Assembly hosted the function. Rabindra Sangeet specialist Sanjida Khatun was also an invited artist on the occasion. Before she came to the dais stage, she was asked by Bangabandhu to sing 'My Sonar Bangla'. Because he wanted to convey to the Pakistanis love of 'Sonar Bangla'.
But Sanjida Khatun could not memorize the complete song. In her statement Sanjida Khatun said, “the song of five long stanzas was not in my memory.. However I managed to sing the song. Sheikh Mujib wanted to explain to the representatives of West Pakistan how the song inspired the Bengali. He was not even given the name 'Bangabandhu'. "
Since then, other artists including Sanjida Khatun have been singing 'My Sonar Bangla' on various occasions. This song was closely linked with the Bangabandhu’s movement.
On June 23,1967, the Information Minister of Pakistan Khawaj Shahbuddin banned the broadcasting of Rabindranath in radio and television of Dhaka and declared: "Rabindra sangeet music is not our culture." But it was protested by the teachers, poets, journalists, lawyers and singers. On the occasion of the Sraban 22nd, a function organized by all cultural organizations institutions for three days took the form of movement. Governor Monem Khan's son failed to keep up with the program. Bangabandhu came to protect the Bengali culture. Along with the During the non-cooperation movement, on the direction of Bangabandhu, radio songs of patriotism, including Sonar Bangala were played on the radio, TV. At that time the entire five stanzas were sung. In the film ‘Jibon thekey Nea’ of Zahir Raihan the song was included.
After Independence, the National Anthem of Bangladesh was approved in the presence of Bangabandhu at the Cabinet Division meeting. Cabinet Secretary H. T. Imam; Jamil Chowdhury participated in the discussion on behalf of the television. At the behest of Bangabandhu, Cabinet Secretary HT Imam initiated the collection of the national anthem. After collecting the notation, the rest is now history.
Sanjida Khatun writes in her book 'Jiboner Bhelai Bhelai', "I saw Bangabandhu crying when he heard this song. This shows how much he loved the country. ”