Amid the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh (here, here), a video and photo purportedly showing the renowned Indian poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore are circulating on social media, claiming that his statue was vandalized in Bangladesh during the unrest (here, here, here, here, & here). In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals showing the vandalized statue of Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh amid the ongoing 2024 unrest in the country.
Fact: These visuals date back to 2023 and are unrelated to the recent 2024 unrest in Bangladesh. The viral photo shows a statue of Rabindranath Tagore that was vandalized at Dhaka University, while the viral video shows the installation of Tagore’s statue at the same university. According to reports, the sculpture of Tagore was created by students as a protest against censorship and oppression and was installed next to the Raju Memorial Sculpture on university premises. The university authorities removed the statue because it was placed without informing the administration. However, the students later reinstalled the statue at the university. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Bangladesh has been witnessing deadly protests that began in July 2024 as an anti-quota movement. Recently, these mass protests have evolved into a major anti-government uprising. The situation escalated when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. Protesters forcefully entered her official residence in Dhaka, looting and vandalizing the premises (here, here).
Reports indicate that mobs have attacked the homes and businesses of minorities, particularly Hindus, looting their valuables (here). There are also reports of Hindu homes and temples being vandalized and set on fire (here). Additionally, some unverified claims suggest that protesters are kidnapping women (here).
To learn more about the viral photo, we conducted a Google reverse image search that led us to a news report published by the Dhaka-based Bengali news outlet ‘Prothom Alo’ on 17 February 2023, featuring the same viral photo. According to the report, students from the Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University installed a 19.5-foot sculpture of Tagore near the Raju Memorial Sculpture on 14 February 2023, as part of a public art exhibition, symbolizing a protest against ‘censorship’ and the ‘stifling of freedom of speech’ in Bangladesh. Two days after its installation, the statue went missing. The broken head and other fragments were eventually found in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan (Gardens).
A report by the Dhaka Tribune published on 17 February 2023, featuring the same Tagore statue as in the viral video says, ” According to the report, on 16 February 2023, Dhaka University (DU) authorities removed a statue of Rabindranath Tagore that had been installed by students next to the Raju Memorial Sculpture. The report further stated that Dhaka University Proctor, Professor Dr. AKM Golam Rabbani, said, ‘the institution has a policy on placing sculptures on university premises. The sculpture was placed without informing the university administration. Therefore, the university administration removed it.’ We also found a video report by ‘Prothom Alo,’ dated 16 February 2023, featuring the same visuals as those in the now-viral video.
Additional reports confirming that the viral photo shows a broken head from a Tagore sculpture, created by students from the Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University to protest against censorship and removed from the university in February 2023, Can be seen here, here and here. A report published by the Dhaka Tribune on 18 February 2023, stated that students had reconstructed the sculpture after finding its parts scattered across the campus.
To sum up, old visuals of a vandalized Rabindranath Tagore statue in Bangladesh are being shared with a misleading narrative linking them to the 2024 unrest in Bangladesh.
