Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) general secretary (GS) S M Forhad has spoken out over the display of a photo of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, at the union’s museum. He made the comments at a briefing with reporters outside the DUCSU building on Monday afternoon.
S M Forhad said: “Jinnah is presented in the museum photo in that way precisely because he took a direct stand against the Bangla language. Chhatra Dal has taken a position against this through their statement. It seems to me that Chhatra Dal has, in effect, taken Jinnah’s side here. They want to absolve Jinnah, and they want the photo removed from here. They’ve even given a 24-hour ultimatum. They’ve said if it isn’t removed within that time, they will take action.”
Earlier in the day, a former student named Abu Tayeb Habildar broke the photo of Muhammad Ali Jinnah kept at the museum. He was a much-discussed, older candidate for DUCSU vice-president (VP). He received 10 votes for that post. He is a student of the Urdu department’s 2001-02 academic session at Dhaka University.
Commenting on the photo being broken, the DUCSU GS said: “I heard the person who broke Jinnah’s photo is from the Urdu department. I was surprised. He’s probably from the Urdu department precisely because of that, which may explain a particular fondness for Jinnah. And that’s likely why this happened. But we’ve noted in the photo’s caption that he took a stand in favour of Urdu. The person who broke the photo perhaps doesn’t want people to know about Jinnah’s position on Urdu. That’s likely why he broke it. In other words, he too has taken Jinnah’s side.”