Abdul Mannan, and Syed Nazrul Islam from various places on the way, on 11 April, the entourage arrived in Agartala, capital of the Indian state of Tripura, where many other Awami League leaders had taken refuge, including Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and Colonel M A G Osmani. Before reaching Agartala, during Tajuddin and his group's stop in Shiliguri on 10 April, Golok Majumdar arranged the broadcast of Tajuddin's first radio speech as the prime minister of Bangladesh from a clandestine radio station. The speech was recorded in Delhi from a draft prepared by Islam and Rehman Sobhan, an Awami League economist who also escaped Dhaka after the 25 March crackdown and made it to Delhi. In his speech, Tajuddin informed the people of Bangladesh of the formation of the government and the war's progress. He praised the spontaneous armed resistances taking place at the various parts of the country and recognized their leaders. He also gave instructions to the people on the conduct of the war. Describing the Pakistani army's onslaught, Tajuddin asked the international community to express solidarity with the freedom struggle of Bangladesh. The speech was broadcast again the next day on Akashvani Kolkata, the regional service of the Indian state radio, for a broader audience. Reunited in Agartala, the Awami League leadership pondered the cabinet agenda and distributing cabinet offices. In the absence of President Sheikh Mujib, Syed Nazrul Islam served as acting president, Khondaker Mostaq took the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qamarauzzaman was given the State Minister's office, Mansur Ali the Finance Minister's, and Colonel Osmani, a retired veteran of the Pakistan army turned Awami League politician, was appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The entire cabinet returned to Kolkata on 13 April, set to take oath at some yet unoccupied place in Bangladesh. The oath taking ceremony took place on 17 April 1971, at a village along the India-Bangladesh border, called Baidyanathtala, in Kushtia district (currently Meherpur district), on Bangladeshi soil. Professor Yusuf Ali read the proclamation of independence, drafted by Amir-ul Islam and reviewed by Subrata Roy Chowdhury, a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court, retroactively in effect from 10 April. Answering a journalist during the ceremony, Tajuddin named the place Mujibnagar, after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Later the government-in-exile came to be popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government. Mujibnagar was abandoned quickly after the oath ceremony as participants feared a raid by Pakistani forces. The