A former student named Abu Tayeb Habildar has broken and torn up a photo of Muhammad Ali Jinnah kept at the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) museum. He went to the museum on Monday afternoon, broke the frame and tore up the photo.
Abu Tayeb 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.
Before tearing up the photo, Abu Tayeb Habildar said: “Jinnah laid the groundwork for Bangladesh’s independence. He told students in front of Curzon Hall that Pakistan’s state language would be Urdu, not Bangla. Many students of our Dhaka University protested. They said, ‘Mr Jinnah, we don’t accept this decision of yours.'”
He said: “As the central figure of the language movement, Principal Abul Kasem began it on March 11, 1948, and a hartal was observed under his leadership. Many students were arrested there, more than two thousand. That Jinnah cannot have a place in DUCSU.”