Stick-wielding protesters barred people from paying tributes to Bangabandhu at his residence-turned-museum

Dhaka, Aug 15 (PTI) A large group of stick-wielding people positioned themselves in front of the Bangabandhu’s residence-turned-museum here on Thursday and foiled attempts by deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s supporters to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of her father and Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The development comes days after the interim government scrapped the National Mourning Day holiday, marking the August 15, 1975 assassination of the Bangabandhu.

Unlike the previous years, no sombre wreath offering ceremony was held at Bangabandhu’s 32 Dhanmandi private residence, which was turned into a memorial museum after his assassination. The museum was burnt into ashes by an angry mob after Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5.

“There were no processions, no demonstration but people wanted to pay tribute to the Father of The Nation, Bangabandhu. In the guise of students, the radical group Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir and Bangladesh Nationalist Party people are beating people,” Hasina’s Awami League party said on Thursday in a post on X.

In her first public statement since fleeing to India, Hasina on Tuesday expressed sorrow over the burning down of the Bangabandhu Museum during the violence, saying the “memory and inspiration, which we had to live, was burnt into ashes”.

“This was an extreme defamation of someone…under whose leadership we became an independent nation. I seek justice from the countrymen for this act,” she said.

Hasina also urged Bangladeshis to observe the day peacefully, offering wreaths at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum premises and through prayers.

Her party said on Thursday that unarmed cultural activists were assaulted for defying a mob as they converged to pay tribute to the memory of the founding father at his residence.

It said that supporters of the same mob occupied the road surrounding the residence on Thursday.

“In some places, midnight rallies brought under the banner of anti-discrimination protesters with chants of mob violence against anyone who dare to defy and offer towards Dhanmondi 32 many more,” it added.

“Such repression is nothing new against Awami League. Following the brutal assassination in 1975, the killers employed similar repressive measures. But the ideals of Mujib overpowered all the hurdles time and again,” the party said in a post on X.

“Some people wielding bamboo rods were barring others from going to Dhanmondi 32 in the capital. They were even seen beating up people who were trying to enter the historic Dhanmondi 32,” Bengali language daily Prothom Alo reported.

Several people took positions with bamboo rods in the area adjacent to the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the capital’s Dhanmondi 32 and questioned people who were entering the area, the paper said.

“People were being asked to show their identity cards. Even their mobile phones were being checked. No one was allowed to enter Dhanmondi 32,” it said.

“Some people were seen being chased by a group of people. Some were seen being beaten up. A vandalised car was also seen near the traffic island along Dhanmondi-32,” it added.

Hundreds of people used to visit Dhanmondi 32 to pay tribute to Bangabandhu on this day during Hasina’s 15-year rule.

“Nobody approves of it… but somebody’s (Hasina regime) overdoing caused the overreaction,” ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and spokesman Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury earlier told PTI, referring to the attack on the museum.

Reports and witnesses said film actress Rokeya Prachi, followed by several people to stage a sit-in, on Wednesday went to the museum but was dispersed by protesters who used sticks to chase them away.

On Thursday, a large group of stick-wielding people positioned themselves in front of the museum to bar anyone from paying tributes in front of his bust at Bangabandhu Bhaban, despite calls from the deposed premier.

“I went to pay my respects in the morning. But I could not place wreaths. I felt good as some people gave salam (Muslim traditional greeting) and asked me to go back,” said a 1971 war veteran and leader of the Krishak Sramik Awami League – a party belonging to Hasina camp.

He, however, complained that brickbats were thrown at his car, damaging the vehicle.

The interim government of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus cancelled the August 15 national holiday after discussions with different political parties other than Awami League, while most of its leaders are on the run or in jail following the collapse of Hasina’s regime on August 5.

According to media reports, some parties were in favour of keeping the mourning day holiday, while others opposed it.

Political commentator and New Age newspaper editor Nurul Kabir, known for his stern criticism of the past regime, said Hasina herself was responsible for the defamation of her father.

Kabir added, “Who can deny his contribution to Bangladesh’s creation”.

“The blame lies with them (Hasina regime or party),” he said.

The student-led protests demanding reforms in government job quotas evolved into a government-toppling movement in early August.

Over 230 people died in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the death toll to 560 during the three weeks of violence.