Mujib, Tagore, Now Ray: Culture Crackdown In Bangladesh Post Hasina Ouster?
The months following the change of guard in Dhaka have seen India-Bangladesh ties nosedive. While India has flagged reports of attacks on Hindi minorities, Bangladesh has demanded that New Delhi stay out of its internal matters and extradite Sheikh Hasina. This comes after decades of close partnership between the two countries and is also significant against the historical backdrop of India's support in Bangladesh getting its freedom from Pakistan in 1971.
Another transformation has followed the leadership change. Bangladesh appears to be shedding its past, its cultural history and its shared heritage with India. And in doing so, iconic cultural centres are being neglected at best, and destroyed at worst.
Here are a few instances
February 2025: A part of the ancestral house of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh and Sheikh Hasina's father, is demolished. This Dhaka residence is where the hero of the Bangladesh liberation movement was murdered along with nearly 50 members of his family and staff.
June 2025: The ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore at Shahzadpur in Bangladesh's Sirajganj district was vandalised by a mob following a dispute between a visitor and a museum staff over a parking fee. The mob damaged the auditorium and attacked an official. The museum was temporarily closed, and a probe was initiated.
July 2025: Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Mymensingh is being demolished. Bangladesh authorities argue that the structure, belonging to Ray's grandfather and litterateur Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, is being demolished after "necessary approvals".
According to an IANS report, officials from Dhaka's Department of Archaeology admitted that their repeated requests to protect the building went unheard.
India has offered cooperation in repairing and restoring the historic structure. "Given the building's landmark status, symbolising Bangla cultural renaissance, it would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
A Shared Culture
Before the Radcliffe Line hacked parts of Punjab and Bengal in 1947, setting off a bloody human migration, Bengal was partitioned in 1905 too. While the move was largely aimed at easing administration, it was seen as a 'divide and rule' attempt, and such was the backlash that the British were forced to reverse it.
And then, the 1947 Partition happened. Millions of Bengalis left their homes, towns and families behind as they started life as refugees in Kolkata and several parts of the Northeast. Like their counterparts in Punjab, they could never forget their lost home. This longing transcended borders and also enriched a shared cultural heritage.
Bengali music, literature and cinema have never been divided, nor have Bengal's cultural icons. The cultural centres in Bangladesh connected to Ray and Tagore are significant against this backdrop. Their neglect and vandalism imply an indifference to this cultural heritage and a distancing of a section of Bangladesh from these cultural icons, who once commanded equal admiration on both sides of the border.
Amid reports about Ray's ancestral residence, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X, "The Ray family is one of the foremost bearers and carriers of Bengali culture. Upendrakishore is a pillar of Bengal's renaissance. Therefore, I believe this house is intricately tied to the cultural history of Bengal. I appeal to the Bangladesh government and all the conscientious people of that country to take steps to preserve this heritage-laden house. The Indian government should pay attention to this matter."
Bangladesh vs History
As Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka amid nationwide protests, an iconic image played on TV screens and phones across the world. A section of protesters toppled a golden statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Bijoy Sarani. It was an iconic sight. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not just Sheikh Hasina's father. Called 'Bangabandhu', he was the revolutionary who led Bangladesh to freedom. To destroy his statues and vandalise his ancestral residence goes beyond the public sentiment against his Prime Minister daughter. It signals a society's disowning of its history and a desperate attempt to distance itself from its liberation movement, based primarily on language.
In fact, the protests that ousted Hasina were triggered by the Awami League government's policy to reserve 30 per cent of government jobs for descendants of veterans who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Most of these people were linked to the Awami League. Bangladesh has a huge unemployment problem and many of its young nationals were born in a free country. For them, the reservation for the 1971 veterans limited their opportunities. They protested, and when Hasina tried to crush this protest, it grew only stronger.
Is Islamism Growing In Bangladesh?
Reports of atrocities against minority Hindus have sparked a buzz that Islamic fundamentalism is gaining ground in Bangladesh after the Awami League government was ousted. The Jamaat-e-Islami, which supported Islamabad during the 1971 War of Liberation and was banned by Sheikh Hasina, has returned to the political landscape and is now eligible to contest elections.
Bangladesh has a paradoxical constitution. It says that the state religion is Islam, "but the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other religions". It adds that the principle of secularism shall be realised by eliminating communalism, by abuse of religion for political purposes and by preventing discrimination on religious grounds.
In fact, when Bangladesh became independent, it did not have a state religion. It was in 1988 when military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad pushed Parliament to recognise Islam as the state religion. In 2011, the then Sheikh Hasina government stressed secularism, but Islam remained the state religion.
With the change of guard, Bangladesh is again at the crossroads. The National Consensus Commission, tasked with leading critical democratic reforms, discussed this issue too. About 38 political parties debated recommendations to change the terms of the Constitution from "secularism" to "pluralism". "Although most parties rejected the idea of pluralism, they recommended incorporating some form of protection for minorities," said Ali Riaz, the commission's vice president.
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