Bangla Academy removes ‘1952 poster’ made with a 1971 photograph

The poster sparks criticism on social media ever since it was up on display

The poster reading “The Spirit of ‘52 is the inspiration of ‘24”, featuring a 1971 photograph taken at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, has been removed following criticism.

The poster was displayed on the Metro Rail pillars outside Bangla Academy for the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, drawing connections between the 1952 Language Movement and the recent July uprising.

The academy’s Director General Mohammad Azam said the poster was taken down on Sunday afternoon.

The poster with attribution to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs at the bottom was stuck in several places from Dhaka University’s TSC to Doyel Chattar.

It sparked criticism on social media ever since it was put on display.

Photographer Shahadat Parvez wrote on Facebook, "What did the cultural affairs ministry do? They misrepresented the 1971 Liberation War photograph as one of the Language Movement." Sharing the original photo, he said: "The girl in the middle of the picture is Linu Haque. She was a tenth grader at Agrani School at that time."

“The person whose face is covered with a stick is JaSod leader Shirin Akhter. She was an HSC candidate then. The girl on the far left is freedom fighter Forkan Begum. She was a Dhaka University student then.

“This is a picture of the women’s rally that was led and presided over by poet Begum Sufia Kamal at the Central Shaheed Minar on Mar 15, 1971. The picture was published in the fortnightly newspaper “Chitrita” the following day."

Freedom fighter Kazi Ferdous Haque Linu shared the book fair poster on Facebook on Saturday night.

She wrote, “I strongly protest the use of this picture by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs."

The academy’s DG Azam told bdnews24.com that the poster was not designed by the fair's organisers.