Students protest by trampling on images of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam at DUCSU

A group of students staged a protest at the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) museum by trampling on images of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ghulam Azam, objecting to the display of Jinnah’s photograph at the museum.

The protest was held around 2:30pm on Tuesday by a group of students from Dhaka University’s 2025–26 academic session. They protested by trampling on two photographs at the foot of the DUCSU building and two others inside the museum.

Protesting student Wasim Uddin Rahat said, “This is Bangladesh, a country where Salam gave his life for the language movement and Barkat shed his blood. The country became independent at the cost of the lives of three million people. We will never accept anyone who tried to take away our language being given a place at Dhaka University. Ghulam Azam was a notorious Razakar.”

Students taking part in the protest said Fatima Tasnim Jhuma, DUCSU secretary for the Liberation War and Democratic Movements, had said after putting up Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s photograph at the museum that she had installed it because she wanted to. The students said that, as ordinary students, they also wanted to, and therefore trampled on photographs of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam.

Shibbir Ahmed, a 2025–26 student of Dhaka University’s Department of History, said, “The DUCSU secretary for Liberation War affairs, whose manifesto promised to highlight the Liberation War, has sought to honour a pro-Pakistan figure by putting his photograph on the wall of the DUCSU museum. She did this by using her position of power.”

He added, “Using the power of students and Bangladesh supporters, we placed photographs of Ghulam Azam, Jinnah and other pro-Pakistan figures under our feet. This will continue. No pro-Pakistan political agenda will be allowed to come to the forefront in Bangladesh.”

Shibbir Ahmed said, “We have seen politics being conducted in the past using Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s image. It is clear here that they wanted to bring in photographs of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam as alternatives to Sheikh Mujib’s image.”

Ash Shams, a student of the Department of English for Speakers of Other Languages, said, “For some time, we have seen that on the death anniversary of Jinnah, he is apparently honoured by Inquilab Mancha. Jhuma apa enthusiastically shared posters about it. Later, when Jinnah’s photograph was removed or taken down from the DUCSU museum, she posted on Facebook saying that photographs were being removed and vandalised at the museum.”

He added, “We saw how much they regretted the removal of Jinnah’s photograph. Our demand is that they were elected with the mandate of ordinary students. Therefore, they should stand for Bangladesh and for those who support Bangladesh.”

The DUCSU museum was reopened last Sunday after renovation. It does not contain a standalone photograph highlighting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s role in Bangladesh’s independence movement. Instead, three new photographs of former Pakistan Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah were displayed.

One of the photographs showed Jinnah delivering his speech at the then Racecourse Maidan, now Suhrawardy Udyan, on March 21, 1948. At the event, he declared that “Urdu alone shall be the state language of Pakistan.”

The museum also displays a group photograph from the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held in Lahore in March 1940, along with a newspaper clipping of a report published in Dawn. A photograph of former student union leader Abdul Malek has also been included.

Following the publication of these details, criticism began on Facebook on Sunday night. Later, on Monday afternoon, a student named Abu Tayeb Habildar went to the DUCSU museum and protested by tearing up Jinnah’s three photographs.

After that, activists of the Students Federation put up a photograph showing former Jamaat-e-Islami amir Ghulam Azam being beaten with shoes in front of Baitul Mukarram in 1981.