1974 Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the United Nations

The Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the United Nations (জাতিসংঘে শেখ মুজিবুর রহমানের ভাষণ) was a public speech given by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the prime minister of Bangladesh on 25 September 1974 at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City to the member states' representatives of the UN general assembly sessions. It was the first Bengali-language speech at the United Nations, delivered during a period of depression and famine of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The day is observed in the State of New York as Bangladeshi Immigration Day since 2019.

Background
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and first president of Bangladesh, loved to deliver speeches in Bengali, his mother tongue and the native language of East Pakistan (previously East Bengal). In 1952, he gave the official speech as the Pakistani representative in the native language of East Bengal instead of English at the Asia and Pacific Rim Peace Conference held in China. He insisted on ensuring the prevalence of the language at all levels. When the province became independent from Pakistan as the People's Republic of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War, he as the prime minister formed a committee to popularize the language's usage which became official language of the country. He refused to sign official documents written in English.

Bangladesh became a member state of the United Nations on 17 September 1974, three years after its independence. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman decided that he would address the General Assembly at the United Nations in Bengali. Minister of State for Information Taheruddin Thakur wrote a draft of the speech and submitted it to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. However, he rejected the draft. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the foreign secretary, and Faruq Ahmed Choudhury, the deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh posted in the United Kingdom, wrote another draft and showed it to him. But as the problems of Bangladesh were not mentioned in that draft, he added the country's food problems to the draft through a copyist of the office.

A team of 24 members, including prime minister Mujib, left Bangladesh's capital Dacca (now Dhaka) by air two days early to attend the session of General Assembly on 25 September. Before delivering the speech, he informed the assembly that he would deliver the speech in Bengali. Algerian head of the state Houari Boumédiène asked him to speak in English, but Mujib refused his request and delivered the speech in Bengali. At that time speeches were not given in any language other than Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, the official languages of the United Nations.

Speech
The English translation of the Bengali speech was entrusted to Faruq Ahmed Choudhury who was present at the session. As ruler, Mujib adopted the motto "friendship with all, enmity with none" as the foreign policy of the newly formed country, and he used it in the speech. In his speech, he highlighted the importance of understanding the reality of peace, humanity, brotherhood and interdependence to solve the economic crisis around the world. Besides, he proposed to build a uniform economic system all over the world. In his speech, he said that his country will work to solve various issues, and he thanked those who helped for the freedom of Bangladesh. The speech highlighted the situation of the country at that time when it was going through depression and famine.

Receptions
The speech at the session is the first speech in the official language of Bangladesh at the United Nations. It drew praise, especially from representatives of third-world member states. Austrian politician and Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim called the speech "candid and constructive". British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan described the speech as "powerful". Journalist Abdul Gaffar Choudhury compared the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature of Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's speech. According to journalist and writter Santosh Gupta, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established the status of Bengali language internationally by delivering a speech in it at the UN General Assembly.

Indian writer Surjit Dasgupta said of the speech that the day of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Bengali speech at the United Nations was "the best and greatest day of his life". According to writer and journalist Syed Badrul Ahsan, through this speech, Mujib paved the way for the recognition of Bengali as the only language of the Indian subcontinent at the United Nations. Writer and educationalist Syed Manzoorul Islam feels that through this speech, the Prime Minister has taken Bangladesh to a unique place and has indirectly given a message to the Middle Eastern countries that oppose its recognition as a country. According to him, Mujib inspired other libertarian regions through this speech and after this speech, some member states started using their languages in the sessions which are not the United Nations' official languages.

Legacy
Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the incumbent prime minister of Bangladesh, has been giving speeches in Bengali at United Nations General Assembly sessions inspired by her father. Since 2019, this day has been observed as Bangladeshi Immigration Day in New York. Posts and Telecommunications Division released a special postage stamp to commemorate the speech in 2020. An e-poster was released by the government to commemorate Mujib's UN speech.

A campaign was officially launched to commemorate the day on the occasion of Mujib Year. The fourteenth paragraph of the resolution titled 'United Nations International Year of Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace, 2023' incorporates a quote from Sheikh Mujib's 1974 UN address, "Friendship with all, enmity with none", which states that "The General Assembly recognizing the importance of combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and unemployment, and emphasizing that friendship to all and malice towards none, in the spirit of constructive cooperation, dialogue and mutual understanding, will help to achieve these objectives".