THE vandalisation of the historic Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh鈥檚 founding president, the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on February 5 appears to have been a direct result of the indirect provocation of the fallen prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the reactive political behaviour of a section of the agitating students who led the democratically oriented mass uprising that resulted in the humiliating fall of Hasina鈥檚 authoritarian regime six months ago.
Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in the face of an irresistible mass uprising on August 5, 2024, chose February 5 to address the students of Bangladesh from Delhi on a verified Facebook page administered clandestinely by her party鈥檚 student front Chhatra League, which earned notoriety by indulging itself in misdeeds of various kinds during the 15 years of Hasina鈥檚 rule. The deposed prime minister was making phone calls from Delhi to her party activists at home and abroad which were being deliberately leaked to various social media platforms and, thus, she was trying to reach out to the public for sympathy and support. Surprisingly, in the telephonic conversations in question, she never showed an iota of remorse for killing about a thousand people, mostly youths, and brutally injuring some 20,000 people, again, mostly youths, in three weeks in July鈥揂ugust, only to perpetuate her regime in power earned through illegitimate political means. Some other League leaders, speaking from abroad these days, make similar speeches without admitting any mistakes, let alone crimes, and rather strongly criticising those responsible for the political changeover. Under the circumstance, the Students鈥� League announcement for Hasina to address the students adequately angered a section of the students, particularly who were on the front line of the victorious mass uprising, who took up the programme of demolishing Mujib鈥檚 house, later turned into a museum, the prime symbol of the Awami League鈥檚 politics.
As declared earlier, Sheikh Hasina spoke and, as usual, she did not find any fault of her. Snatching away people鈥檚 voting rights, presiding over the jailing of thousands of political opponents, illegal detention and enforced disappearances of many citizens, emptying the banks as well as plundering and the siphoning of billions of dollars, using state institutions for personal and partisan gains 鈥� nothing. The young agitators, as they also declared, went to Mujub鈥檚 Dhanmondi residence and razed it to the ground.
The interim government of Professor Muhammad Yunus visibly stood silent, which calls for an explanation to people at large.
The demolition of Mujib鈥檚 house might keep the League activists from being loud at home for some time while those living abroad would use the incident to garner sympathy for the party, but the youths who politically presided over the demolition need to realise that the historicity involved with the house is a 鈥榥ational property鈥�. That Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the one who introduced authoritarian rule in the post-independence Bangladesh is true, but it is also true that he had fundamental contributions to transforming East Bengal鈥檚 autonomy movement to that of the independence while the national war of independence was fought by people mostly in his name. Moreover, attempts to erase 鈥榟istory鈥� do not help advance history. It could, rather, mislead a people to achieve its historically legitimate goal.
