A group of students under the banner of Students Against Fascism on Sunday evening staged a protest march, demanding the proctor’s resignation in the incident of removing the portrait of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina from the ‘pillar of hatred’.
The portrait on a metro rail pillar near the university’s Teacher-Student Centre stood as a ‘symbol of hatred’ among the students.
In the evening, students marching from the TSC area paraded the campus roads and then staged a sit-in in front of the administration building. They held placards bearing images of the ‘pillar of hatred’ featuring Hasina during the protest.
They chanted slogans demanding the proctor’s resignation. ‘No room for dictatorship on the DU campus,’ they also chanted.
One of the protesters, mass communication and journalism student Nourin Sultana Toma, criticised the proctor, saying, ‘Yesterday, the proctor claimed the removal was prompted by the National Security Intelligence, but today he changed his statement, citing fear of the mob.’
‘Can an administration that operates out of fear of the mob be deemed capable of governance?’ she asked, adding, ‘This proctor lost his legitimacy to hold office the day a murder occurred on this campus.’
Motiar Rahman, a student of the philosophy department, questioned, ‘Why is an autonomous institution like this still operating under the directives of the NSI, even in Hasina’s absence?’
Jahidul Islam, a law department student, alleged, ‘The attempt to erase Hasina’s portrait from the hatred pillar involves the state’s intelligence agencies and the university administration as well. After such actions, the proctor can no longer be part of the movement to create an anti-fascist campus.’
Interim government chief adviser’s deputy press secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, while speaking to journalists at a press briefing in front of State Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka city on Sunday, termed the removal of the image as ‘a misunderstanding’.
‘Dhaka University authorities informed us that they would recreate the graffiti,’ he said, adding, ‘the university authorities would also preserve the July mass uprising related graffiti and other memorials.’
Eyewitnesses said that around 2:00am on Sunday night, several individuals attempted to erase Hasina’s image from a metro rail pillar, but students intervened. They later learned that the activity was being carried out with the proctor’s permission.
By the time they intervened, the full image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on one pillar and the facial portion of Hasina’s image on another were erased.
The students then stopped the worker and drew a satirical depiction of Hasina on the same pillar.
In light of the overall situation, the university’s administration on Sunday issued urgent directives to properly preserve the wall writings and graffiti from the July student-mass uprising on the campus, said a press release.
The press release mentioned that the wall writings and graffiti must not be erased or damaged in any way. Legal action would be taken if administrative orders regarding the preservation of the July uprising’s memories were violated.
The press notification further noted that if, for any reason, the wall writings and graffiti on the university campus were damaged, the university would take its own initiative to restore them.
Dhaka University proctorial office also issued an urgent notice expressing regret on the matter.
‘This incident was an unintentional mistake by the proctorial team, for which we sincerely apologise. We pledge to be more vigilant in the future regarding such matters,’ the notice read.
In proctorial team’s presence, students quickly redrew the erased graffiti on Saturday night. The university authorities would officially recognise this pillar as a ‘Pillar of Hatred’, the notice added.