State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat on Wednesday blasted Khaleda Zia government for its decision not to officially observe April 17 (Mujibnagar Day), a historic day memorable for formation of the country’s first government on this day in 1971.

A cabinet division document of 2002 revealed that BNP government decided not to observe April 17 as it found no importance of the day, Arafat wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

He wrote- Today is a historically memorable day for the nation as first cabinet of independent Bangladesh took oath on this day. 

“But from a cabinet meeting today I came to know that the cabinet led by Khaleda Zia adopted a resolution in 2002 not to observe a number of important days including April 17 saying ‘those days do not need to be observed in the present context’.

“Can you imagine it? The oath taking day of independent Bangladesh's first government (cabinet) was not important to them!” he added.

“It is much more that the cabinet of Khaleda Zia which was constituted with war criminals and rajakars did not scrap the celebration of March 26 and December 16 as the Independence Day and the Victory Day,” Arafat wrote.