Bangladesh minister Md. Tajul Islam on Saturday unveiled a bust of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Room No. 24 of Baker Hostel, replacing an earlier idol that had pained innumerable Bangladeshis as it hardly bore similarities with the icon who led their country’s freedom struggle.
Islam had visited the room where Rahman stayed for around five years while studying in the erstwhile Islamia College — now Maulana Azad College — a few months ago during one of his Calcutta visits. The hostel is near the college.
“When I saw the bust the first time, I felt instantly that it hardly looked like that of Bangabandhu,” said Islam recounting his visit to the room which many Bangladeshis consider a pilgrimage.
“I went back and discussed it with our Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Rahman) and we decided to replace it with a bust that can undoubtedly be called Bangabandhu’s,” Islam said on Saturday after unveiling the new bust, made by Bangladeshi sculptor Liton Pal Ronny.
The programme was attended by Islam’s junior in the ministry, Swapan Bhattacharya, deputy publicity secretary of ruling Awami League, Mohammed Aminul Islam, and Bengal minister Javed Ahmed Khan. “I feel satisfied now,” said Islam.
Sources in the deputy high commission said the earlier bust was placed in Rahman’s room in 2010 and was unveiled by Dipu Moni, the then foreign minister of Bangladesh.
Through the year, the deputy high commission of Bangladesh organises several programmes in Calcutta in memory of the country’s nine-month-old liberation war of 1971 and Rahman, regarded as the Father of the Nation. Room No. 24 at Baker Hostel has always been an integral part of these events.
Rahman was a student of the college on Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Street in Calcutta between 1942 and 1947. For Rahman’s followers in the Awami League, the Calcutta leg of his life is important as during his days in the college, he cut his teeth in student politics and became the general secretary of the students’ union.
Some of the prominent politicians of this side of Bengal, such as Biman Bose and Mohammad Salim, had also been at the helm of the students’ union in the college.
