The "Mrityunjayee Prangan" was inaugurated in 2023 by Sheikh Hasina.[2] Sculptures were displayed in Victory Day parades in 2021 and 2022.[3] The sculpture was erected under the supervision of the Bangladesh Army.[4][5]
There was a central sculpture of former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in this premises. His contribution to the Bengali language movement to the Bangladesh Liberation War struggle and various incidents of the language movement and freedom struggle are highlighted in the murals of the sculpture.[6][7]
Destruction
Face of Sheikh Mujib been crossed out with Bhuā (lit.'Fraud') written in Bengali.
On the day of Sheikh Hasina's resignation, protesters climbed up and vandalized the golden statue of Sheikh Mujib at the Mrityunjayee Prangan.[8] Over 1,500 cultural and historical sculptures, including those of Sheikh Mujib, were destroyed by 7 August.[9] The statue was fully demolished by the afternoon.[1] The destruction of the statue was compared with that of Saddam Hussain's statue in Baghdad in 2003.[10]
The long 'authoritarian' rule of Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujib, had generated public resentment. Sheikh Mujib came under attack as an extension of that anger toward Sheikh Hasina. In that context, the acts of vandalism that occurred immediately after the mass uprising were 'spontaneous'. Later, however, various groups based on political ideologies, continued the vandalism, which was not spontaneous. Due to their opposition to Sheikh Hasina or her party, those groups went so far as to target Sheikh Mujib as well as the history.[11]
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