Why Lungi Dance at Mujib's memorial on his death anniversary

New Delhi,UPDATED: Aug 16, 2024 16:26 IST

Dhanmondi 32 is like no other address in Dhaka. The house there stood as a sombre memorial to Bangladesh's struggle for Liberation and the blood it shed to stay true to that spirit. It was the official residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then President and the father of Bangladesh's liberation movement. It was where Mujib, along with almost all of his family, was massacred on August 15, 1975.

The assassination of Mujib changed the course of Bangladesh's history. Later, Dhanmondi 32 was turned into a museum dedicated to Bangabondhu Mujibur Rahman and the 1971 Liberation War. Wreaths were laid, and sombre tributes paid here every August 15, a national holiday in Bangladesh till now.

STUDENTS DO 'LUNGI DANCE' OUTSIDE DHANMONDI 32

Showing how Bangladesh politics had taken a U-turn, dozens of students danced to 'Lungi Dance' outside Dhanmondi 32 on August 15. The video of the crowd dancing to the song by Honey Singh from Shahrukh Khan-starrer masala film Chennai Express (2013) went viral.

The camera, in the viral video, pans to reveal the house of Mujibur Rahman burnt by protesters during the recent anti-Sheikh Hasina agitation. The building was gutted and artefacts looted by mobs.

Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh Prime Minister who fled from Bangladesh on August 5 as a violent mob bayed for her blood, is the daughter of Mujibur Rahman.

The juxtaposition of the gloomy building against the cacophonous celebration has largely been perceived to be vulgar.

The anger against the Sheikh Hasina regime and the growth of pro-Pakistan and anti-Liberation forces was on sharp display on August 5 as protesters vandalised statues of Mujibur Rahman.

On August 15, groups of people owing allegiance to that ideology stood guard around Dhanmondi 32 to prevent people who came to commemorate Mujib's death anniversary. They thrashed and drove away people. The interim government's stance was clear as it had earlier done away with national holiday-status for Mujib's death anniversary.

In her first message from exile, Sheikh Hasina urged people to mark August 15 and pay respect to the freedom fighters of 1971 who gave their lives for the Liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.

However, this is "naya" Bangladesh where Hasina's ouster is being branded as "second Independence Day".

Another viral video showed a local Awami League leader, who wanted to commemorate Mujib's death anniversary, stripped down to his underwear and made to gesticulate to the orders of hostage-takers.

"There were no processions, no demonstration but people wanted to pay tribute to the Father of The Nation, Bangabandhu. In the guise of students, the radical group Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir and Bangladesh ist Party people are beating people,” Hasina’s Awami League party said on Thursday in a post on X.

Scores of people called out the Bangladesh Lungi Dance video. Several of them blamed Sheikh Hasina's authoritarianism and overkill of Mujib's legacy for the blatant show of disrespect.

Bangladeshi-American political analyst and faculty member at University of Dallas highlights the events leading up to Mujib's assassination.

"August 15, 1975, was the day when Sheikh Mujib was brutally murdered with almost his entire family by Bangladesh army officers. Before his murder by the military, Sheikh Mujib abolished all political parties except his own party, making Bangladesh an one-party-state. He banned all newspapers except four, and brought the Bangladesh Army under his direct control and empowered his own militia force," says Rabbee.

"Therefore, Mujib’s collapse, not exactly his brutal murder, became a point of celebration for a large number of Bangladeshis who did not support the Awami League back in 1975 and those who do not support them now," Rabbee tells IndiaToday.In.

The political analyst says that the commemoration of August 15 might have been forced down the throat of the entire country.

"With that backdrop, when Hasina forced a month-long commemoration of August 15th on Bangladeshis, forced all national TV channels to put a black ribbon, effectively disallowed celebrations of any kind — including India’s Independence Day which coincides on that same day — a backlash was inevitable among the new generation who simply got too far removed from that emotional history," says Rabbee in the context of the Lungi Dance video.

The Bangladesh watcher says Awami League politicians were cheerleading the brutal assault on protesters by security forces on Hasina's command.

"Those are the people who are being harassed on the streets trying to pay homage to the August 15, 1975 murder. Law adviser Asif Nazrul made an analogy that one cannot be sorry over blood that is 52 years old, while your hands are drenched with blood from the last month. The backlash that you see on the street is owing that dichotomy," says Rabbee.

Hasnat Abdullah, a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, tried to blame the vulgar dance near Dhanmondi 32 on pro-Awami League forces. He alleged that there were attempts to discredit the students' movement through attacks on minorities and extortion. This, Abdullah told Jamuna TV, was a bid to build a narrative that the previous Awami League government was better.

This was a desperate bid to try and justify something that has been branded crass by people. However, there is no way the thrashing of people who come to pay tribute to Mujib can be justified.

The irony is not lost that 'the lungii dance' was a tribute to the veteran Indian actor Rajnikanth. In Bangladesh, it became a symbol of mocking and rebuking the legacy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

That there is a mix of popular anger against Sheikh Hasina and a disconnect with Mujib's legacy is certain. What is also certain is that the anti-1971 forces, buoyed by the massive protests, now have an upper hand in Bangladeshi society. And, "history is written by the victors".