Wreaths laid at Bangabandhu's portrait in Kalaroa at night, vandalism reported in the afternoon

On the occasion of the 50th martyrdom anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a wreath was laid at the portrait of Bangabandhu installed in the Kalaroa Upazila Parishad premises in Satkhira late on Thursday (August 14). However, allegations of vandalism were raised the next day at noon.

Local sources said that at around 12:30 am, a person named Md. Russell Hossain under the banner of the Awami League offered flowers to the portrait. Another person with him recorded the entire incident on his mobile phone. No one else was present at the time.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kalaroa Police Station Saiful Islam said, "Two people came late at night - one offered flowers, the other made a video."

Meanwhile, the portrait was vandalized on Friday afternoon. Arafat Hossain, the former convener of the Satkhira branch of the anti-discrimination student movement, complained on Facebook that the administration had obstructed the demolition of the portrait. He wrote in the post, “UNO obstructs the demolition of Mujib’s portrait in Kalaroa. Wow wow UNO wow. Is DC Mostaq Ahmed promoting Awami?”

Arafat also wrote, “How could UNO keep Mujib in office? Even after this July revolution, how could he say, ‘No need to demolish, we will build something else here.’”

Regarding the complaint, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md. Zahurul Islam said, “I am on leave today, not in Kalaroa. When a student representative called me, I said don’t demolish the establishment, we will put up a map of the upazila there. There was no obstruction regarding the demolition of the portrait.”