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The cult of personality around Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was started during the premiership of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government. [1] [2] [3] Mujibism initially began as the political ideology of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which was gradually converted into a cult of personality around him during the tenure of his daughter Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh. [4] [5] [6] After her fall following the July Revolution, his cult of personality was gradually dismantled. [7] [8]
A cult of personality was created around Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his tenure, where his supporters venerate him. [9] [10] After being pushed to the sidelines by the successive military rulers Ziaur Rahman (who founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and Hussain Muhammad Ershad (who founded the Jatiya Party), Mujib came back to dominate public consciousness from 2008 under the Awami League government led by Hasina. [11] Hasina was criticised for overemphasising the role of her father and the Awami League in securing Bangladeshi independence at the cost of sidelining other prominent figures and political parties of the time. [12]
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During her tenure, Hasina amended the constitution to make the presence of Mujib's portrait mandatory in every school, government office and diplomatic missions of the country and made it illegal to criticise Mujib, his ideals and his deeds, especially the one-party BAKSAL regime headed by him, through writing, speech or electronic media. [13] [14] Awami League government spent 4,000 Crore to build around ten thousand sculptures and artistic depictions of Sheikh Mujib throughout the entire country. In 2021, 1220 sculptures were made to celebrate his 100th birthday. [15] [16] [17] Many events commemorating the birth-centenary of Mujib in his lifetime were launched by the Hasina administration, including an official biopic in collaboration with the Indian government. The Hasina government converted Mujib's residence in the capital city of Dhaka, where he and his family was assassinated by military personnel in 1975, into a memorial museum. Hasina designated the day of Mujib's assassination as the National Day of Mourning. [18] [19] The Hasina government also made the birthdays of Mujib, his wife Sheikh Fazilatunessa, eldest son Sheikh Kamal and youngest son Sheikh Russel as official government holidays, alongside March 7 (on that day in 1971, Mujib declared Bangladesh's seccession at a speech in Dhaka). Under Hasina's rule, the country was dotted with numerous statues of Mujib alongside several roads and prominent institutions named after him. [20] Critics state that Hasina utilises the personality cult around her father to justify her own authoritarianism, crackdown on political dissent and democratic backsliding of the country. [21] [22]
Describing the naming of government projects after the members of Sheikh family, Executive Director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development Mostafa K Muzeri noted: [23]
The psychology behind this was, firstly, it would be easier to get the approval of projects containing Sheikh family's names. Apart from this, components [of those projects] weren't checked toughly. Besides, there were opportunities to get exemption doing irregularities and corruption at the implementation stage [of those projects]. Combinedly speaking, there were opportunities to steal [wealth from the projects] having Sheikh family's names.
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Following the violent overthrow of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, the cult of personality around Mujib is being systematically dismantled. [24] [25] Just after the fall of Awami League government, protesters toppled the golden statue of Sheikh Mujib in Bijoy Sarani, Dhaka, which received live coverage around the world. [26]
Places and infrastructures named after Mujib and his family members was gradually dropped, including govt. hospitals, [27] [28] [29] public universities, [30] [31] govt. textile colleges, [32] govt. schools, [33] military establishments, [34] [35] transport infrastructures such as Bangabandhu Bridge and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, [36] [37] govt. colleges [38] [39] and sports infrastructures. [40] [41] Biographies of Sheikh Mujib or his family members were replaced by the biographies of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rabindranath Tagore, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and four national leaders from the elementary textbooks. [42] The Bangladeshi government also decided to remove the portrait of Sheikh Mujib from the banknotes of the Bangladeshi taka. [43]
On 5 February 2025, protesters demolished the house of Sheikh Mujib, turned into a museum under Awami League government, following a speech of Sheikh Hasina perceived as provocative by many. [44]
In lieu of a true popular mandate—the U.S. deemed January's election, which returned the Awami League for a fourth straight term but was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as neither free nor fair—Hasina increasingly leans upon the cult of personality she's constructed around her father.