One of the crucial seen manifestations of this rising radicalism is the vandalism of secular symbols, such because the destruction of sculptures and cultural establishments, which have been as soon as emblematic of Bangladesh’s dedication to its secular heritage.
Overseas Secretary Vikram Misri throughout his conferences in Dhaka on Monday, raised this concern of assaults on cultural centres and properties. The Indian Cultural centre in Dhaka was burnt down inside a day of Sheikh Hasina’s elimination and perpetrators stay at massive.
Roughly 1,500 sculptures, reliefs, murals, and memorials have been vandalized, set on fireplace, and uprooted between August 5 and 14, 2024, with vital harm in Dhaka and different main cities, in accordance with Dhaka-based sources who didn’t want to be named.
Notable among the many destroyed works have been a number of statues of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, in addition to different vital cultural symbols. The harm contains 273 works in Dhaka Division, 204 in Chittagong Division, 166 in Rajshahi, 479 in Khulna, 100 in Barisal, 129 in Rangpur, 49 in Sylhet, and 92 in Mymensingh Division of Bangladesh.
The schooling system has additionally come beneath stress from radical forces, with makes an attempt to affect the curriculum and impose a extra religiously conservative outlook.Efforts to change the nationwide anthem, which has symbolic significance in reflecting the nation’s secular and democratic values, are one other indication of the rising affect of Islamic radicalism, alleged one of many sources quoted above. These actions sign a shift in the direction of a extra theocratic imaginative and prescient of the state, pushed by radical teams that search to redefine the nationwide identification, in accordance with a long-time Bangladesh watcher.
