Witnesses say several people being taken to the hospital following the attack in front of the NCTB building
Published : 15 Jan 2025, 03:11 PM
Students protesting against the removal of images featuring the word “adivasi” – a collective term for a number of ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh – from textbooks have been attacked by a group of students in favour of the removal.
Witnesses saw several people being taken to the hospital after the attack in Motijheel around 1pm on Wednesday.
Motijheel Inspector Mohaimenul Islam said, "The ‘adivasi’ protesters have left the area after being chased off by the students. Now the situation has returned to normal. The students are staying on one side of the road."
A picture that used the term “adivasi” was used for the back cover of the Bengali grammar and composition textbook for ninth and tenth graders. The artwork depicted a tree with five leaves, each inscribed with a term for a religious or ethnic community in Bangladesh - Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and “adivasi”. “Tearing leaves is prohibited” was written next to the picture.
The picture was removed from the online version of the book after members of the “Students of Sovereignty”, an organisation of Bengalis living in the hill areas, surrounded the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, or NCTB, premises on Jan 12.
An organisation of students from ethnic minority groups then announced a protest under the banner of “Agitated Adivasi Students” against the removal of the image in front of the NCTB at 11am on Wednesday. “Students for Sovereignty” announced a counter-protest in front of the same building at the same time.
In accordance with the announcement, the Agitated Adivasi Students gathered at the foot of the Raju Memorial Sculpture at Dhaka University on Wednesday morning. Later, they left for Rokeya Hall and marched along the Arts Faculty and Madhur Canteen with the aim of surrounding the NCTB Building.
The Students for Sovereignty took up positions in front of the NCTB Building in Motijheel around 11am.
Tensions arose when the Agitated Adivasi Students arrived.
Mahmud Zaman Ovi, a photojournalist for bdnews24.com, reported from the scene that the two sides faced each other and were shouting slogans while police took up positions between them.
But a clash eventually broke out between the two sides.
Though the police attempted to move the two sides farther from each other, a group from the Students for Sovereignty side attacked the Agitated Indigenous Students with sticks.
The Agitated Adivasi Students group was broken up by the severe beatings and were later seen moving towards the Dainik Bangla intersection. The Students for Sovereignty remained in position in front of the NCTB building carrying sticks.
Alik Mro, an organiser for the Agitated Adivasi Students, later told bdnews24.com, "Students from Students for Sovereignty attacked us. Eleven people were injured."
Students for Sovereignty Convenor Muhammad Ziaul Haque Zia told bdnews24.com, "Fourteen students from the Students for Sovereignty were injured in an attack by the tribals."
During the Agitated Adivasi Students rally at the Raju sculpture, Mro had said:
"Under pressure from a group of separatists, they removed the graffiti. And they called us separatists."
"Does the NCTB puppet the state or does the government run it? We are citizens of Bangladesh. Just as you have rights, we also have rights. But they try to flip it around and call us separatists."
Demanding the reinstatement of the textbook image, he said: "From now on, the adivasi people should get their due status in the textbook."
Asked about the reason for their protest, Students for Sovereignty Convenor Ziauk told bdnews24.com on Tuesday: "Our demands have only been partially met by removing the graffiti featuring an imaginary united India with the seditious term 'adivasi' from the cover of the textbook. But we also demanded the removal of Rakhal Raha alias Sajjad, who was on the revision committee, and the formation of an investigation committee to identify those involved in this.”
"The NCTB had assured us that it would accept our demands and form an investigation committee. But our demands have not been implemented yet. Therefore, we are forced to hold protests and lay siege to the NCTB again.”
Dhaka University student Muhammad Muhiuddin Rahat, the joint convener of the organisation, said: “Under foreign instigation, the small ethnic groups of the Chattogram Hill Tracts have claimed they are ‘indigenous people’ since 2007 under foreign instigation, but they are not. They have come from different regions and have coexisted with Bengalis on our land. ‘Indigenous people’ means the original inhabitants. But the original land of the small ethnic groups of the Chattogram Hill Tracts is in neighbouring countries like Myanmar, India, Cambodia, Thailand, etc.”
“In 2007, a declaration on indigenous peoples was presented at the 61st session of the United Nations. The declaration contains some controversial articles that, if implemented, do not give the state control and integrity over indigenous areas. Bangladesh did not sign the declaration as there are no tribal indigenous people in the country. One article of that declaration gives the indigenous people the right to self-determination and another article gives them the right to autonomy and to form their own government. We demanded that this unconstitutional word be removed from the textbooks as it threatens the sovereignty and integrity of the country."