Leaders of the Jahangirnagar University (JU) unit of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Movement today took down the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the council room in the university’s new administrative building today.
Several coordinators from the movement gathered outside the building around 1 pm before proceeding to the council room.
The students chanted slogans like “Mujibbaad er godite agun jalo ek sathe, Mujibbaad er astana bhenge dao guriye dao”.
After removing the portrait, the group held a brief rally outside the building. Touhid Siam, a coordinator of the movement, said, “We previously issued an ultimatum to the university administration to remove Sheikh Mujib’s portrait, but they failed to act. Therefore, we took matters into our own hands. Mujibbaad will no longer exist in Bangladesh.”
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In a separate development around 3 pm, students under the banner of ‘Gono Obbhutthan Rokkha Andolon’ held a protest rally demanding reforms to the university’s quota system and the removal of portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from university offices.
Shoaib Hasan, a student of Urban and Regional Planning and an activist of the group, said, "Our demands include the abolition of the Vice-Chancellor’s quota in JU admissions, reforms to the reserved quota for the offspring of employees, and the removal of Sheikh Mujib's portraits, which represent autocracy, from all government, semi-government, and autonomous institutions."