March 7 is one of the memorable days in our national history. The day is marked for the historic speech delivered by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to thousands of people at Dhaka Race Course Maidan. There were many events that led us to March 7. In 1970, the Awami League, the largest political party of East Pakistan led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 out of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan. It won a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, refused to see Bangabandhu as the-Prime Minister of Pakistan. Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. In January 1971, President Yahya Khan promised that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan and that the newly elected MPs would convene in Dhaka on March 3, 1971. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vehemently opposed to a Bengalee becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Bhutto began a campaign of racially charged speeches across West Pakistan to invoke the fear of possible Bengalee domination. The national assembly was thus "postponed" on March 3. This led to a massive outcry across East Pakistan as thousands protested the postponement which they felt was the last nail in the coffin for a united Pakistan. The Awami League then called for a large public gathering at Dhaka's historic Race Course Maidan on March 7 to respond to the raging tension across the province.
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