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Information and broadcasting adviser Md Mahfuj Alam on Saturday said that Shaheed Minar was a symbol of resistance and victory.

‘We started from here and we were able to celebrate the victory only after coming here,’ he said at the end of the July Revival Procession-2025 organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka.

The procession started from the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city and ended at the Central Shaheed Minar.

Mahfuj said, ‘In the last phase of the July uprising, teachers as well as social and cultural activists took to the streets, broke the curfew and held programmes at Shaheed Minar, which inspired us greatly.’

‘In all aspects, Shaheed Minar is a symbol of our resistance and victory. It was the place from where one-point movement was officially declared on August 3,’ he added.

Mentioning that about ‘2,000’ people embraced martyrdom and 20,000 to 25,000 people were injured in past year’s uprising, he said, ‘Our activities are in memory of this sacrifice.’

‘As long as we remember the martyrs, as long as we feel the pain of the injured, we will remain committed to building a new Bangladesh,’ said Mahfuj.

The information adviser said that in exchange for the martyrs’ sacrifice, the nation got a new Bangladesh and got an opportunity to build Bangladesh anew. ‘We have to utilise that opportunity.’

‘We had made many promises, a large part of which has moved towards implementation. Many things have changed. May be the fate of the common people of Bangladesh could not be changed in a year. But our efforts were, and these efforts will continue,’ he said.

Mahfuj said that due to the fascist system, many did not get fair rights and they were victims of discrimination.

‘But, after 16 years they have seen those rights and fairness. They have seen non-discrimination,’ he said.

Reminiscing about the 2024 anti-discrimination student-people movement, he said, ‘After the attack on ghayebana janaza on July 17, we could no longer enter the campus. The movement spread from the campus to all of Bangladesh, especially at least eight points of entry to Dhaka, where fierce resistance was created.’

People participated regardless of party affiliation, and countless people gave their lives in this movement, he continued.

The information adviser said, ‘The July mass uprising is just the beginning of a change. But it is not a matter of one year or two years or one government or two governments. Governments will come and go, but due to the July uprising, the old system and old settlement have come to an end.’

‘We have crossed one phase and set off for a new phase. I think that all the democratic and multidimensional manifestations of this phase will not be seen in one or two years,’ opined Mahfuj.

‘I think that if all the social, political, cultural institutions of the country remember our generation that started this democraic journey, and they continue to try to build a new Bangladesh by keeping the spirit of the July Uprising, we hope that Bangladesh will be transformed into a democratic Bangladesh,’ he said.