Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday said this year’s November 7 pledge should be that no one can again snatch the country’s independence, sovereignty and people’s rights, and called for national unity in the spirit of what he termed the 1975 “sepoy-people’s revolution”.

Speaking at the Army Stadium in Banani on National Revolution and Solidarity Day, he said the 1971 Liberation War, the November 7, 1975 uprising, the 1990 movement against autocracy and the 2024 mass uprising each showed that Bangladeshis never compromise on national interest, independence or sovereignty.

Recalling events of 1975, he said soldiers and civilians stood together to thwart conspiracies against the country, after then Army Chief Ziaur Rahman was placed under house arrest on the night of November 3. Forces defeated then, he alleged, later regrouped, citing the Pilkhana killings of army personnel and what he called fascist rule, which ended with the 2024 uprising.

“The war of 1971 was to win independence, and the fight in 2024 was to protect it,” he said.

He said all citizens, whatever their party, religion or ethnicity, share one identity as Bangladeshis, and urged the young generation to uphold the spirit of independence in building a safe, prosperous and humane country.

He ended with the slogan: “Not Delhi, not Pindi, not anyone else; Bangladesh first.”

About 3,000 cadets of the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps and 500 Scouts members took part in a special display at the event, which was organised under the Ministry of Defence.