In Bangladesh, a statue of the legendary freedom fighter Bagha Jatin was defaced by some miscreants in Kushtia district. The incident was reported from the Kaya college in Kumarkhali Upazila on yesterday night.

Bagha Jatin was born at Koya village in the Kushtia district in 1879.

The incident comes barely within a fortnight of the incident when a statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was vandalised in Kushtia district earlier this month. Police subsequently arrested two students of a local madrasa along with two teachers in connection with the incident.

Bangladesh has been embroiled in a big controversy sparked by the threat issued by the hardline Islamist organisaiton Hefazat-e-Islam that they would pull down all the sculptures in the country.   Hefazat-e-Islam’s threat came following the announcement of the government that they would install statute of Mujibur Rahman coinciding with his birth centenary year being celebrated. Cases have been lodged against the Hefazat Chief Junaid Babunagari and a few of its office bearers for issuing the threat.

Government of Bangladesh has taken a tough stance against the Hefazat and other hardline Islamist organisations who are opposing the installation of Sheikh Mujib’s sculpture. Ruling Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and several other senior leaders of the party and ministers have made it clear that tough measures would be taken against people who are trying to damage religious harmony in the country in the name of opposition to sculptures.