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Published : 19 Dec 2025, 12:50 PM
Inqilab Moncho leader Sharif Osman Hadi harboured an avid interest in poetry. He had founded the Inqilab Cultural Centre and often recited the works of Bangladesh’s rebel poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam. A video of him reciting "Bidrohi" (The Rebel) had drawn widespread praise on social media.
It is why Afroza Khatun struggled to come to terms with the reaction triggered by news of Hadi's death.
Standing outside the vandalised Chhayanaut building in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi on Friday, the parent said she could not accept that anger over Hadi’s death had been turned against one of the country’s most respected cultural institutions.
“My child studies here. This is a school. They set fire to my child’s school.”
Afroza said she sensed trouble hours before the attack.
“Even from inside our homes at night, we knew Chhayanaut would be attacked. But law enforcers either didn’t understand it or didn’t come forward to protect it.”
As videos of the fire and vandalism circulated on social media, her young son sat beside her, watching in silence.
“He said, ‘Mum, let’s go -- they’re destroying our school.’ I can’t describe how that felt.”
She said she tried repeatedly to reach the chief of Dhanmondi Police Station that night, but her calls went unanswered.
A NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION
News of Hadi’s death while he was undergoing treatment in Singapore sparked protests in Shahbagh and other parts of Dhaka, as well as in cities across the country. Amid reports of attacks elsewhere, a group began gathering outside Chhayanaut’s seven-storey building in the Shankar area after 1am.
Between about 1:30am and 2:30am, the building was systematically vandalised, according to witnesses.
A group of around 50 to 60 people arrived in a procession. Fires were first lit near the parking area. Doors were broken down, and the attackers moved from floor to floor.
Inside the auditoriums, musical instruments -- tablas, harmoniums, tanpuras -- were smashed or burnt. On upper floors, charred books lay in heaps alongside destroyed instruments. CCTV cameras, speakers, lights and fans were ripped out. Clay artworks and other cultural pieces were broken.
Classrooms and offices belonging to Chhayanaut and its music school were ransacked. Furniture was overturned, documents scattered. Even washrooms were not spared.
Witnesses said some of those involved appeared to be looting, breaking open drawers in search of money and carrying away instruments and other items.
During the attack, slogans were shouted -- political, religious and incendiary. A portrait of the late cultural icon Sanjida Khatun was vandalised, with attackers reportedly labelling her an “atheist”.
PARENTS IN SHOCK
By morning, parents began arriving at the damaged building, some with their children in tow.
Dipanwita Roy and Sushanta Roy, residents of Shankar, said their daughter studies at Chhayanaut Sangeet Bidyayatan. They said they had not slept all night.
“We all want justice for Hadi’s killing. But does destroying Chhayanaut represent his ideals? What happened last night shows a complete failure of the government to stop it,” Sushanta said.
Police said the attack on Chhayanaut came shortly after vandalism and arson incidents on Dhanmondi Road No. 32. By the time law enforcement took control of the building around 2:30am, much of the damage had already been done.
A FAMILIAR TARGET
Founded in 1961, Chhayanaut was created to nurture a Bengali identity rooted in language, music and culture, even under repression. It emerged after celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore’s birth centenary, defying opposition from Pakistan’s rulers at the time.
It later became synonymous with Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Ramna Batamul -- an event that itself was targeted by a deadly bomb attack in 2001, killing 10 people.
Yet Chhayanaut endured.
Under the leadership of cultural figures such as Waheedul Haque and Sanjida Khatun, its work continued, teaching music, poetry and performance to generations of students.
After Thursday night’s attack, the organisation announced the suspension of all activities, including classes at its music school, until further notice.
But on social media, students, teachers and supporters were already sending a different message.
This attack will not be the one that silences Chhayanaut, they said.
