Mamata to keep Bangabandhu's statue at Baker Hostel
Warns of actions against those demanding its removal
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's bust will stay in Kolkata's Baker Hostel and warned of actions against those demanding its removal.
“Bangabandhu is an inspiration to both Bangladesh and West Bengal. There is no question of removing the sculpture. Stern actions will be taken against those demanding its removal,” she said.
“Bangladesh's war of independence is our inspiration and it is our duty to preserve the memory of Bangabandhu,” she also said, adding that any opposition to this end would not be tolerated.
State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said, “No one made such claim to us; but the news appeared in the media. We will not entertain such demand.”
The Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, stayed in the government dormitory as a student of Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College) in the 1940s. The statue was installed on February 23, 2011. Earlier, rooms 23 and 24 of the hostel were recognised as Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
A section of students on Tuesday brought out a procession towards Bangladesh deputy high commission on Bangabandhu Sarani in Kolkata. Barred, they handed over a memorandum to a local police station.
According to the memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, they came to learn via media on March 18 that a bust of Bangabandhu was installed at the hostel as West Bengal Communist Party leader Biman Bose had laid garland to the statue on March 17.