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Published : 11 Oct 2025, 01:43 AM
The National Consensus Commission has said it is “considering” a proposal to remove Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s portraits from public and private institutions.
To that end, the commission has sent letters to political parties, seeking their views by Saturday.
The letter, signed by the commission’s Vice-Chairman Ali Riaz, was sent on Thursday.
According to the 15th amendment to the Constitution, the Cabinet Division issued a directive on Jul 10, 2011, instructing that portraits of Bangabandhu must be displayed in the offices of the president, prime minister, speaker, and chief justice, as well as in all government and semi-government offices, autonomous bodies, statutory authorities, public and private educational institutions, and Bangladesh’s embassies and missions abroad.
Referring to clause 4(Ka) of that directive, the commission’s letter said: “Meetings with political parties and alliances regarding the drafting and implementation of the July Charter 2025 have been completed.
“At this stage, the commission is considering including the proposal to abolish clause 4(Ka) of the existing Constitution in the July Charter.”
The letter requested parties to submit their written opinions to the commission by 4pm on Saturday, either directly or through email or WhatsApp.
The commission also provided contact details for any further information requests.
“We received the letter from the Consensus Commission on Thursday,” said Mustafizur Rahman Iran, chairman of the Bangladesh Labour Party.
The debate over whether portraits should remain in public and private institutions resurfaced after Aug 5 last year.
On Nov 11, 2024, Information Advisor Mahfuj Alam announced that Bangabandhu’s portrait had been removed from the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban.
In a Facebook post that day, he described it as “a shame” that the portraits could not be removed earlier after Aug 5.
Nearly two weeks later, on Nov 24, Bangabandhu’s portrait was also removed from the conference room of the Nirbachan Bhaban.
That day, the conference room hosted Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin’s first media briefing. Before the briefing began, the photo was taken down from the wall.
