A mural of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Khulna Railway Station in Bangladesh has been vandalised, with unidentified individuals smearing black ink across his portrait. Posters displayed alongside the artwork accused the poet of being opposed to Muslims and East Bengal, declaring that there was ‘no place for Tagore’ in the region. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
According to The Daily Star, the mural was painted on an exterior wall of Khulna Railway Station. Local residents discovered the damage on Friday morning, when they noticed that black ink had been poured over Tagore’s portrait.
The wall also featured portraits of several other distinguished personalities associated with the region’s art, literature and cultural heritage. These included folk mystic Fakir Lalon Shah, painter SM Sultan, poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, former President Ziaur Rahman and writer Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Their portraits were left untouched.
Two posters were reportedly put up near the defaced mural. One carried a message stating: ‘There is no place for Tagore in Titumir’s Bengal, as he was an opponent of Muslims and East Bengal. There is no place here for those who glorify India.’
The posters have added a further dimension to the controversy, although the identities of those responsible and the reasons behind the vandalism remain unknown.
Lokman Hussain, officer-in-charge of Khulna Sadar Police Station, said police received information about the incident on Friday afternoon and subsequently began an investigation.
As reported by The Dhaka Tribune, Hussain said shops across the road from the railway station were closed on Friday, making it difficult for investigators to determine who carried out the vandalism and when it occurred.
Khulna City Corporation administrator Nazrul Islam Manju condemned the incident, saying the artworks displayed on the wall were intended to encourage independent thinking among children and young people.
He said the act of defacing the portrait reflected the narrow-minded outlook of those responsible.
The Khulna City Corporation had commissioned the artworks ahead of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to the city.
This is not the first time a portrait of Tagore has been targeted in Bangladesh. In October, another image of the poet was vandalised in the capital, Dhaka. Police detained four people in connection with that incident.
