Rabindranath Tagore mural defaced in Bangladesh with anti-Muslim posters

A mural of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore has been defaced with black ink by unidentified people in Bangladesh's Khulna, drawing criticism, news agency Press Trust of India reported, citing local media.

The mural was painted on the boundary wall of Khulna Railway Station alongside portraits of several prominent figures associated with the region's art, literature and culture.

According to PTI, The Daily Star reported that murals of Fakir Lalon Shah, painter SM Sultan, Kazi Nazrul Islam, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, former president Ziaur Rahman and Michael Madhusudan Dutta on the same wall were left untouched.

The wall also features murals depicting the July uprising, the Sundarbans, the Sixty Dome Mosque and the jute industry. The Khulna City Corporation commissioned the artwork ahead of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to Khulna.

Local residents noticed the damage to Tagore's mural on Friday morning. Khulna Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Lokman Hossain said the police learnt about the incident on Friday afternoon and launched an investigation.

“All businesses across the road were closed on Friday, making it difficult to determine who defaced the mural and when,” The Dhaka Tribune quoted Hossain as saying.

Two posters were also put up beside the mural. One of them said: “There is no place for Tagore, who was hostile to Muslims and East Bengal, in Titumir's Bengal. There is no place for glorifying India.”

Khulna City Corporation Administrator Nazrul Islam Manju expressed outrage over the incident and said the portraits would help encourage free thinking among children and adolescents, The Dhaka Tribune reported. “By defacing the portrait, they have exposed their narrow-mindedness and sick mentality,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Shariful Islam Salim, a cultural activist and general secretary of Nattyalok, said he believed an organised group was behind the incident. “They have carried out similar acts in Dhaka as well. These incidents are being orchestrated deliberately. Those responsible must be identified and brought to justice. This may not stop with Rabindranath; they could target other eminent personalities too,” The Daily Star quoted him as saying.

Salim said Tagore's literature and philosophy had inspired generations to embrace free thought, secularism and human dignity.

Tagore's mural was also defaced in Dhaka in October. Police detained four people in connection with that incident, including Al Nur Mohammad Ayash, member secretary of the State Dialogue Forum, PTI reported, citing The Daily Star.

The latest incident has prompted a police investigation and criticism from civic and cultural figures, while the other murals on the Khulna Railway Station boundary wall remain untouched.

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(With PTI inputs)