Fact Check: Viral image showing damaged Rabindranath Tagore’s statue is not related to recent violence in Bangladesh
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of an interim government on August 8, just days after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina amid student uprising. Meanwhile, India remains on a high alert due to developments in the neighboring country.
Currently, Bangladesh is facing an unprecedented crisis as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had been in power for 15 years, resigned and fled the country amidst escalating protests. What began as a demonstration against the jobs quota system has quickly turned into a massive uprising against her and her government. In the past few tumultuous weeks, over 300 people have lost their lives.
In another troubling development, hundreds of Bangladeshi Hindus attempted to flee to India this week after many homes and businesses of the minority community were vandalized following the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
In the backdrop, a photograph of a piece of the statue went viral on social media.
Users shared the picture with the caption: “Vandalism continues in Bangladesh as radicals target bust of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who also wrote the national anthem of Bangladesh besides India.”
Whereas by sharing the same image, another user wrote “Desecrated & decapitated - the composer of #Bangladesh’s national anthem!
Fact Check: We found the claim is false, the viral photograph is not related to the recent violence in Bangladesh.
During the reverse image search we found, on February 18, 2023, Prothom ALo a YouTube Channel uploaded a short on their channel. In the video, we found the same viral picture was played. In the video there was mentioning “Rabindranath Tagore Sculpture return to Dhaka University”.
We also found on Feb 18, 2023, Channel 24 uploaded a video with Title “খোঁজ মিলেছে 'গুম হওয়া' রবীন্দ্রনাথের" !
When translated to English, it means “Found Missing Rabindranath”.
It proves that the viral image was already on the internet before the recent Bangladesh violence.
When we searched the keyword "Rabindranath Tagore Sculpture in Dhaka University," we found a detailed article published in The Print on February 19, 2023.
According to the article “On February 14, 2023, students from Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts created and installed a sculpture of Rabindranath Tagore as a symbolic protest against censorship and the suppression of free speech in Bangladesh. This action was partly in response to the Ekushey Book Fair's decision to deny a stall to Adarsh Publications. The statue, placed near the Raju Memorial Sculpture outside the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC), was made from thermocol, bamboo, and pages from old books. Standing 19.5 feet tall, it featured a nail piercing through Tagore's book "Gitanjali" and tape over the poet's mouth.”
However, the statue was removed on February 16, 2023. In response, the students hung a banner in the same spot that read, "Rabindranath has disappeared!" Later, they found vandalized pieces of the statue, including the defaced and severed head, as seen in the viral photo.
Pune Mirror Published “‘Missing’ head of Tagore statue found in Dhaka”.
According to the News 18 “Rabindranath Tagore's statue missing from Dhaka University campus, the broken head found 2KM away”.
Hence, we found the claim is false. The viral photograph is from an old incident that occurred in 2023 at Dhaka University. There is no connection to the recent violence in Bangladesh.