Bangladesh Chhatra Union has staged a protest following the addition of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s photo and the removal of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s portrait at the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) collection house.
The organisation has demanded the immediate removal of Jinnah’s portrait and the reinstatement of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s picture.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, Mahir Shahriar Reza, president of the organisation’s central council, and general secretary Bahauddin Shuvo, put forward this demand.
In their statement, the student leaders described the initiative taken at Ducsu as an “attempt to distort history”.
According to the statement, the organisation said Jinnah had attempted to impose Urdu on the Bengali-speaking population of then East Pakistan. On 21 March 1948, at the then Racecourse Maidan, Jinnah declared that Urdu would be the sole state language of Pakistan. This sparked a movement demanding language rights, culminating in several young people sacrificing their lives during the 1952 Language Movement.
The Chhatra Union noted that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman holds an important role in the history of the Bengali liberation struggle. While his tenure in power may be subject to review, any attempt to erase him from history is unacceptable.
Strongly criticising the decision to display Jinnah’s portrait whilst removing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s picture at Ducsu, the statement asserted: “Through this, an attempt is being made to establish a specific interpretation of history”.
The student leaders urged the Dhaka University administration to remove Jinnah’s portrait and restore Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s portrait without delay. They warned that if their demands are not met, university students will take “appropriate action”.
