3 days ago
Old Bangla currency with Bangabandhu Mujib's face becomes souvenir in Bengal
Kolkata: Many in Kolkata with currency notes of Bangladesh that have the image of the country's founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, are saving them as souvenirs.
This has been prompted after Bangladesh Bank recently introduced new currency notes of Taka 1,000, Taka 50, and Taka 20.
The redesigned notes have images of various nationally important establishments in place of the image of Bangabandhu. The official website of Bangladesh Bank, which is the centralised bank of the nation, clearly mentions: "Bangladesh Bank has the sole authority to issue banknotes in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Bank, like other central banks the world over, changes the design of banknotes from time to time. The Bangladesh Bank has so far issued notes in the denominations of Tk.5, Tk.10, Tk.20, Tk.50, Tk.100, Tk.500, and Tk.1000 in this series.
" The Taka 50 note highlights Ahsan Manzil and Zainul Abedin's Sangram. The Taka 1,000 note showcases the National Memorial and the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. The Taka 20 note features Kantaji Temple and the Paharpur Monastery.
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In India, cultural activist Subha Prasad Nandi Majumdar, who is from a refugee family of 1947, described this as a move on expected lines "given the kind of political forces that have taken over the power in Bangladesh." "That is because the present regime, as per Yunus's own admission, has pushed a reset button regarding Bangladesh's history. A regime, which remains a stoic witness, if not active participant, to the demolition of 32 Dhanmondi and all sculptures associated with the liberation struggle would naturally be too keen to remove Bangabandhu' s image from currency notes," Majumdar said.
Majumdar went to Bangladesh in Feb and heard that the currency change was underway.
"I realised that these currency notes will be treated as historic souvenirs in the coming days. I believe a large section of the population in Bangladesh will retain a part of their currencies with Bangabandhu's image as a souvenir while exchanging new currency notes," he said. On his return to Kolkata, Majumdar deliberately never converted them to Indian currency.
Saikat Sekhareswar Ray, the head of the department of editing at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, too wants to keep the old currency as a souvenir.
"A nation in search of a new identity often attempts to shed its past by any means possible. Unfortunately, some of these efforts are merely symbolic — this being one of them ," Ray said.
Author Prabal Kumar Basu last went to Dhaka in 2020. "It was just before Covid-19. I have some currencies of Bangladesh that bear Mujib's image. I kept all of those and have no wish to convert them to Indian currency. Since there was no announcement about replacing the old currency with the new, I kept them with me. I want to visit Bangladesh again and hope to use them," Basu said.
