Jinnah in, Mujibur Rahman out at Dhaka University museum; Pak founder's portrait shredded

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's photographs have been replaced by images of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Dhaka University's DUCSU Museum, triggering protests, a student-led removal of the Jinnah portraits and a university probe into how the controversial display came about.

Several photographs of Bangladesh's liberation leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were replaced with photographs of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, at the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) Museum, prompting protests from student unions and promises of disciplinary action. The DUCSU is led by a platform that has the backing of the Islami Chattra Shibir, the students' wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

According to reports by Bangladeshi news outlets Prothom Alo and bdnews24.com, the DUCSU Museum, which had been undergoing renovations, was opened to the public on Sunday by DUCSU Secretary for Liberation War and Mass Movements Fatima Tasnim Juma. Vice-President Shadik Kayem, General Secretary SM Farhad and other DUCSU representatives were also present at the reopening.

Bangladesh's founding President, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has been a frequent target of those opposed to the now-ousted Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government. Following Hasina's ouster during the July uprising of 2024, several statues of Mujibur Rahman across Bangladesh were vandalised or destroyed.

The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus also removed a portrait of Mujibur Rahman from the Bangladesh President's office and took steps to remove his likeness from the country's currency notes.

However, replacing Mujib's portraits with those of Jinnah shows the turn the country is taking.

For context, DUCSU is currently led by the United Students' Alliance, a student platform backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami-aligned Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.

WHAT WERE THE PHOTOS OF SHEIKH MUJIB THAT WERE REPLACED WITH THOOSE OF JINNAH?

The newly renovated DUCSU museum is no longer displaying prominent solo photographs of Sheikh Mujib that documented his role in Bangladesh's struggle for independence.

According to the Prothom Alo report, these included images associated with the 1952 Language Movement, the 1954 United Front Election, the 1966 Six-Point Movement, the 1968 Agartala Conspiracy Case, the 1969 Mass Uprising, the 1970 general election, and Sheikh Mujib's historic March 7, 1971, speech where he had declared the de facto independence of Bangladesh.

In fact, the only images associated with Mujib, according to Prothom Alo, were limited to photographs of his two sons' wedding in 1974 and framed newspaper clippings carrying his image.

At the same time, at least three images of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, were put up. These showed him delivering his March 21, 1948, speech declaring Urdu as Pakistan's sole state language, at the 1940 All India Muslim League conference in Lahore, and in a Dawn newspaper report on the 1970 election.

DUCSU official Fatima Tasnim Juma was reported by Prothom Alo as saying that after August 5, 2024, images of figures deemed "icons of fascism" were removed.

Juma added that Jinnah's photographs were included to document historical events, not glorify him. However, a DUCSU employee told bdnews24.com that several Sheikh Mujib photographs remained before the 2025 DUCSU election but were removed after the United Students Alliance and the Islami Chhatra Shibir won control of the union.

REMOVAL OF MUJIB'S PHOTOS SPARKS OUTCRY

The replacement of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's photographs with those of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's did not go down well with Dhaka University students.

On Monday afternoon, a student later identified as Abu Tayeb Habildar entered the museum and tore down the three Jinnah portraits, Prothom Alo reported.

Speaking to journalists, Tayeb said Jinnah, who opposed the Bengali language and ordered the arrest of students at Dhaka University's Curzon Hall in 1948, had no place in the DUCSU Museum. He questioned whether glorifying Jinnah was part of the DUCSU election manifesto and accused the Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir of attempting to elevate controversial figures.

The Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), also condemned the display of Jinnah's photographs. The organisation said the "Shibir-controlled DUCSU" was demonstrating its "love for Pakistan" by abandoning the democratic aspirations of students and the university's "spirit of liberation", bdnews24.com reported.

Prothom Alo also reported that Chhatra Dal activists on Monday hung a photograph at Dhaka University depicting Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ghulam Azam, who was later convicted of crimes against humanity, being beaten with shoes.

Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, a professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, speaking to Prothom Alo, described the removal of Sheikh Mujib's images as, "An attempt, in the name of renovating the DUCSU museum, to remove important figures and memorabilia associated with Bangladesh's independence movement and create a new history from a partisan perspective".

Meanwhile, the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported that the Dhaka University administration would take strict disciplinary action against those involved in displaying Jinnah's portraits, as well as other alleged violations, including erecting an unauthorised monument and launching an unapproved teacher-evaluation website.

The administration reportedly viewed the unilateral initiatives by DUCSU as an attempt to establish a "parallel administration" on campus. Three separate committees have been formed to investigate the student union's activities.

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