The International Council of Museums issued an alert on 23 August on the situation of heritage in Bangladesh. Several museums, historic buildings, cultural institutions and archives have been attacked and vandalised in the context of the political crisis that the country is going through. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (76 years old) who had ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years had to resign, abandoned by the army, under pressure from a street movement led by students violently repressed by the government (more than 500 dead). Parliament was dissolved and a provisional government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed.
The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) in Dhaka was burnt down by a man on a moped who set the building on fire on August 5, 2024. A video released by Reuters shows the charred façade where only the letters GNA remain. Inside what remains of the building, scrap metal and video cassettes litter the ground. Several young men are seen picking up pipes and objects from the debris, presumably from the museum shop. Opened in 2010, the centre promoted the cultures of India and Bangladesh through seminars, workshops in Indian classical music, yoga, and Kathak and Manipuri dance. The centre’s library, containing 21,000 books on Indian art, culture and politics, was destroyed. The Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, located next to the IGCC, a museum dedicated to Sheik Mujibur Rahman, the father of the former prime minister who was assassinated in 1975 in Mujibnagar, was also vandalised.
In a tweet, Shashi Tharoor, the foreign minister of the Bangladeshi interim government, deplored the acts of vandalism perpetrated at the Shaheed Memorial Complex in Mujibnagar. The imposing statue commemorates Pakistan’s surrender in 1971, ending Bangladesh’s civil war.
Attacks on the Hindu community and its places of worship have increased following the departure of Sheikh Hasina, who has taken refuge in India and is considered too favourable to India. The Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council of Bangladesh counted in early August 200 to 300 acts of vandalism committed on Hindu homes and businesses and 15 to 20 Hindu temples ransacked. The residence of the former prime minister was vandalized on August 5 by demonstrators, reports RFIThe furniture was looted and resold. However, some students expressed regret at the squandering of the national heritage and returned the stolen items.
