Parts of mural at Lalmonirhat Liberation War Memorial Stage demolished
A section of the mural at the Liberation War Memorial Stage on BDR Road in Lalmonirhat town has been demolished. Earlier the entire mural, adjacent to the Lalmonir Children’s Park, was covered with a long piece of cloth alleging that this mural does not represent the actual history of the Liberation War.
Workers were hired to demolish the mural partially between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm on Sunday.
Earlier around 10:30 am on Saturday, Md. Hamidur Rahman, member secretary of the Lalmonirhat District unit Anti-discrimination Student Movement, issued a 48-hour deadline from a press conference to remove “all the murals of autocrat”.
He said that though all signs of fascism have been erased from Lalmonirhat since the fall of the dictatorial government on 5 August, the controversial mural of the Liberation War Memorial Stage remained.
According to him, the mural does not carry the complete history of independent Bangladesh. That is why, the students and the people demand removal of all signs and murals of the autocrat.
A worker from the demolition site said that they are working to remove some parts of the mural on the instructions of the Zilla Parishad authorities.
Although attempts were made to contact Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner and Lalmonirhat Zilla Parishad administrator HM Rakib Haider on his mobile phone several times on Sunday, he did not respond.
Lalmonirhat Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) GR Sarwar declined to make any comment on the matter.
Earlier, responding to newspersons’ questions about covering the mural, Lalmonirhat deputy commission HM Rakib Haider said that the mural was covered with cloth as it did not seem to be compatible with the spirit of the July 2024 revolution.
The mural at the Lalmonirhat Liberation War Memorial Stage was constructed in 2014 with the funding of the Lalmonirhat Zilla Parishad.
The mural depicts the background of the Language Movement in 1952, the historic 7 March speech, the Liberation War, the constitution of the Mujibnagar government, the dawn in the independent country, genocide in 1971, freedom fighters celebrating victory, seven Bir Sreshtho, surrender of the Pakistani army, the jubilant crowd holding the national flag, and so on.
After the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August last year, the district administration covered the mural with cloth twice on 16 December 2024 and 26 March 2025.
Helal Hossain Kabir, poet, journalist and convener of the voluntary organisation ‘Otikrom’, said, “It is the administration that has given the order to demolish the mural. Otherwise, no one would have the courage to touch it. The district administration had also instructed to cover the mural with cloth on 16 December and 26 March.
The ‘Socheton Nagorik Samaj (SANAK)’ formed with the help of TIB strongly condemned the incident.
SANAK’s Lalmonirhat Area Coordinator Md. Morshed Alam said, “We protested against the mural being covered with cloth before. Now, we are hearing the news of demolishing the mural. It is sad. We will protest this officially.”