Bangladesh: Mobs attack Mujib house; Hasina says “History can’t be erased”
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As a crowd of Islamic fanatics set afire Bangladesh founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s house in Dhaka on Wednesday, his daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed said “History cannot be wiped out.”
In an online appeal to her Awami League activists, the former Prime Minister, who is staying in India after her ouster last year, had called for the overthrow of the Islamist-supported and Army-backed pro-Pakistani Muhammed Yunus regime on Wednesday, the media reported.
Protesting against her attempts to rally her supporters, Islamists attacked Mujib’s house, later converted into a museum, and set it on fire.
She strongly criticised the attack. “A structure can be erased, but history cannot be wiped out.”
Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in early August 2024 following a so-called students’ protest, organized by fundamentalist outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami and Hifazat-e-Islam, that ousted her Awami League government after 16 years, made these remarks during a virtual address posted on her party’s social media.
She questioned the reason behind the attack on the 32 Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh’s founding father, a key symbol in the country’s fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971. “Why fear a house? I seek justice from the people of Bangladesh. Have I not done anything for my country? Then, why such disrespect? The only memory that both my sister and I have clung to is being wiped out. A structure can be erased, but history cannot be wiped out,” she said.
“They must also remember that history takes its revenge,” she warned.
On Wednesday night, a violent crowd vandalised and set fire to the house, following Hasina’s online appeal to Awami League supporters to protest against the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. The residence, which became an iconic site for Bangladesh’s independence movement, had been transformed into a museum under Hasina’s rule and was a place visited by foreign dignitaries.
During her speech, Hasina reflected on previous assassination attempts and remarked, “If Allah has kept me alive through all these attacks, there must be some work left for me. Otherwise, how could I have escaped death so many times?”
She also accused Yunus of orchestrating a plan to eliminate her and her family, saying, “The meticulous plan by Muhammad Yunus this time was to kill me and my sister.”
Hasina revealed that she had supported Yunus’ Grameen Bank with a funding of 4,000 million Bangladeshi taka; that the money had been misused. “But the entire amount was laundered. Bangladesh is suffering due to one man’s personal ambitions,” she alleged.
She urged students to withdraw from the ongoing protests, suggesting that they had been misled by political groups. She acknowledged that young people were more vulnerable to manipulation, adding, “At this age, it is easy to be manipulated.”
Bonafide students were not involved in the violence following the anti-quota movement last year, she said, and cautioned against letting “terrorists” take control of educational institutions, as she pointed to changes at Dhaka University.
Hasina also expressed concern over the state of governance since her departure, particularly disruptions in the education system. Under her leadership, textbooks were provided on time, but that is no longer the case, she claimed.
The former PM condemned the violence against police and Awami League supporters, describing it as an attack on law and order, and warned that such actions were destabilising the country and undermining democratic governance.
In her address, Hasina stressed that she viewed herself as a survivor of several assassination attempts, believed in a conspiracy against her, and urged the people to resist efforts to erase her legacy, which dates back to the 1971 Liberation War.
The Yunus-led government has repeatedly called on India to extradite Hasina, but New Delhi has extended her visa. Hasina is currently facing multiple legal cases, including charges related to crimes against humanity.
