Mob Vandalises Rabindranath Tagore's Ancestral Home In Bangladesh Over Parking Dispute

Last Updated:
Eyewitnesses reported that the confrontation began when a visitor, accompanied by family, was allegedly confined and assaulted by staff after an argument over motorcycle parking
A mob stormed and vandalised Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home in Bangladesh's Shahzadpur in Sirajganj district on Wednesday following a dispute between a visitor and museum staff over a parking fee, raising concerns over the protection of historical sites in the country.
Eyewitnesses told bdnews24.com that the confrontation began when a visitor, accompanied by family, was allegedly confined and assaulted by staff after an argument regarding motorcycle parking. News of the altercation quickly spread through the local community, prompting residents to stage a protest outside the historic property.
What began as a peaceful demonstration escalated rapidly. A group of protesters forcibly entered the Rabindra Kachharibari premises—known for its association with the Nobel laureate—and damaged property, including the museum's auditorium. One of the institution's directors was also reportedly assaulted during the attack.
News agency BSS reported that in the wake of the violence, the Department of Archaeology formed a three-member inquiry committee and ordered a report within five days. The site has since been closed to visitors. Md Habibur Rahman, the custodian of the museum, confirmed the closure, citing security concerns and 'unavoidable circumstances".
The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, particularly given the cultural and historical significance of the site. Tagore spent time at the Shahzadpur home during the 1890s and penned several notable works there, including Sonar Tori and Chaitali.
Authorities are continuing their investigation, and security has been tightened at the site. As of now, no arrests have been confirmed.
According to local media reports, the mob included members allegedly affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam who also raised slogans against Tagore.
The incident comes in the backdrop of escalating unrest directed at the interim government headed by Mohammad Yunus. In an effort to maintain control, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has imposed an indefinite ban on public gatherings in key parts of the capital. Meanwhile, Yunus's official residence, the Jamuna Guest House, has been sealed off as protests continue to intensify.
First Published:
June 12, 2025, 08:20 IST

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

First Post

an hour ago

• First Post

Why Nobel Peace Prize to Trump wouldn't be surprising

If Churchill, Kissinger and Obama could, why can't Trump? The US President seems to be the right candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize: An 'unpredictable, contradictory' person for the 'unpredictable, contradictory' award read more Donald Trump has been officially nominated by Pakistan for the Nobel Peace Prize. Many people have mocked Islamabad for the choice. (A large number of Pakistanis themselves are up in arms against the decision, especially in the wake of the US joining the Israel-Iran war.) Trump has not been spared either. But the US President is convinced about his eligibility for the top honours. He, in fact, thinks he is overqualified for the award. 'I should have gotten it four or five times,' he says as he explains: 'They should give me the Nobel Prize for Rwanda, and if you look at Congo, or you could say Serbia, Kosovo, you could say a lot of them. I mean, the big one is India and Pakistan.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Of all people Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir—the man who actually nominated Trump for the Nobel—must be a satisfied man today. After all, the man he thought would be Pakistan's biggest nightmare has turned out to be its guardian angel. And for this, all he had to come up with was a profitable business proposition for the Trump family, howsoever dubious it might be. Field Marshal Munir's sycophantic approach—which the Pakistani generals have perfected over the last seven decades—too must have helped break the ice, but it would be a simplistic assessment despite Trump's narcissistic tendencies. Iran seems to hold the key to the sudden US-Pakistan bonhomie. Maybe the Pakistanis have sacrificed the cause of ummah and decided to secretly support the US for American dollars—just like the good, old days in the 1980s. The outright delivery of such promises may be tough for a normal nation, but not Pakistan. For, while every country in the world has an army, Field Marshal Munir's army has a country in Pakistan. This gave him enough elbow room to deliver a commercial proposition that Trump just couldn't refuse. The American elites, in fact, have always loved this Pakistani attribute. Trump is no exception. Coming back to the Nobel Peace Prize for Trump, he seems to be a perfect candidate for this. Not because he has done so much, but because over the decades this award has become a joke in itself. If you were wondering if this would meet protests from the Nobel committee, then you are grossly mistaken. This has been the second nature of the committee. Remember, how, a few years after World War II, Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1953) just because the establishment of the ever-grateful Western world realised that the British war hero couldn't be given a Nobel for peace. Churchill's writings came handy there. Churchill, however, wasn't alone. Actually, if one looks at the Nobel Prize across all verticals, he would appear to be a norm rather than an exception. In the not so distant past, the Swedish Academy didn't think twice in giving a Nobel for peace to Barack Obama (2009). His presidency wasn't a peaceful one by any stretch of imagination. If a study is to be believed, Obama carried out ten times more assassination drone strikes than the previous George W Bush regime, killing many more civilians in the process. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If the move to award Obama was ludicrous, then the decision to give a 'peacemaker' makeover to Henry Kissinger (1973) was preposterous. For, Kissinger, in tandem with his President, Richard Nixon, presided over the death and destruction of several democracies worldwide. His role in the Bangladeshi bloodbath is a case in study. Nixon's pathological hatred for India and Indians, when combined with Kissinger's sinister Cold War calculations, caused a genocide in what was then East Pakistan. Gary J Bass, a Princeton professor, in his monumental book The Blood Telegram, reveals that Nixon and Kissinger were as much responsible for the crimes in East Pakistan, as Gen Yahya Khan was. The list of such errors, deliberate or otherwise, is long and almost never ending—from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (1994), whose role in carrying out deadly strikes on civilian targets is well documented, to Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, who never pretended to be apostles of peace. In fact, in 2019, Ethiopia's controversial Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was given the peace award. Often accused of violence and mass murder in the past, Ahmed himself admitted last year that atrocities were committed during the military offensive in the northern Tigray region. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Coming back to the field of literature, the story of novelist Graham Greene is a reminder of how ignoble the Nobel can get. A foremost novelist worldwide, Greene has failed to win the Nobel. According to one theory, he has been denied the award because he is too rich and popular. The other theory is even more disconcerting: It says that Greene could not win because he had been opposed by Artur Lundkuist, a powerful member of the Swedish Academy. Lundquist, we are told, resented Greene for having an affair with Swedish actor Anita Bjork. Anita's husband was Lundquist's friend. Maybe Lundkuist couldn't forgive Greene for getting there first after his friend's death. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the greats in the world of literature and himself a Nobel Prize for Literature winner (1982), wrote an essay, 'The Spectre of the Nobel Prize', in 1980, highlighting how this award had been a haunting experience for 'great writers'. He began the essay with the story of Jorge Luis Borges, who was 'the writer of the highest artistic merit in the Spanish language'—someone who just couldn't be excluded from the annual Nobel predictions. Yet, Borges had to go through 'the two months of anxiety to which the fates subject him every year'. The reason being, 'the final result does not depend on the candidate's intrinsic merit, nor on divine justice, but on the inscrutable will of the members of the Swedish Academy' which, Marquez found, was 'unpredictable, contradictory, and impervious to all omens'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In this backdrop, one wonders why so much brouhaha over Trump's Nobel nomination. If anything, he seems to be the right candidate for it: An 'unpredictable, contradictory' person for the 'unpredictable, contradictory' award! And the timing will suit the American Deep State: Giving the US President the Nobel would complete the Trumpian loop: From him being a Deep State challenger to a Deep State player. Hasn't that been the ultimate objective of the members of the Swedish Academy? Remember, Churchill, Kissinger, Obama… Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.

Time of India

2 hours ago

• Time of India

'Desperate for American approval': Pakistan in tight spot for Trump Nobel nomination as US shifts from 'peacemaker' to aggressor

A day after announcing its decision to nominate US President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, Pakistan's government found itself facing a wave of criticism — both at home and abroad — as American airstrikes hit Iran's nuclear sites on Sunday. The strikes on key Iranian facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan triggered strong condemnation from Islamabad, with the foreign ministry calling the US action a breach of 'all norms of international law.' The backlash over the government's earlier praise of Trump quickly escalated, turning the Nobel gesture into what many now see as a diplomatic misstep. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 'Swing is King': Mr. Hemant's Strategy Finally Explained in Free Session TradeWise Learn More Undo 'Diplomatic inconsistency at its worst' The Pakistan foreign office, in its statement, said: 'Pakistan condemns the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities which follow the series of attacks by Israel. We are gravely concerned at the possible further escalation of tensions in the region.' It further asserted that 'Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself under the UN Charter' and warned of the 'severely damaging implications' of any escalation. Just hours earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had shared a message on X after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul on the sidelines of the 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers. 'I reaffirmed our unwavering support for Iran 's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and its right to self-defence under the UN Charter,' he wrote. Live Events The contrast between Pakistan's strong defence of Iran and its decision to nominate Trump drew pointed criticism. Former ambassador Maleeha Lodhi remarked, 'This is diplomatic inconsistency at its worst. You can't praise a man for peace one day and stay silent when he orders bombings the next.' Backlash over Nobel move intensifies Pakistan's justification for the nomination centred around Trump's role in 'halting' the India-Pakistan conflict in May, which officials credited to his meeting with Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and alleged backchannel communication with Delhi. But political observers say the optics have badly backfired. Analyst Mosharraf Zaidi noted, 'There's growing public anger over inconsistency. It weakens Pakistan's moral position and suggests a transactional approach to diplomacy.' Commentator Talat Hussain was blunter, calling the nomination 'pathetic' and reflective of a 'colonised mindset desperate for American approval.' Behind the scenes, officials have argued that the outreach to Washington was a pragmatic attempt to protect Pakistan's economic and strategic interests. But with Trump now facing global backlash for authorising strikes on a Muslim-majority nation, the move is being widely panned as a diplomatic miscalculation. Social media platforms lit up with anger, with hashtags like #TrumpNominationShame and #NobelForWar trending across Pakistan. What was intended as a show of strategic alignment now risks becoming a symbol of foreign policy confusion at a sensitive time for the region.

India Gazette

6 hours ago

• India Gazette

"Scientific method of corruption": Congress MP Manickam Tagore hits out at Jagan Mohan Reddy over involvement in Rs 3500 crore alleged liquor scam

New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): Congress leader Manickam Tagore on Monday criticised former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy over the alleged Rs 3500 liquor scam during his tenure. Tagore termed it a 'scientific method of corruption' and mentioned that it was not just a scam but an 'engineered ecosystem,' involving a complex network of individuals and shell companies. In February this year, the incumbent Andhra Pradesh NDA government, led by Chandrababu Naidu, formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate alleged irregularities and corruption in the State's liquor sector from 2019 to 2024, exposing a massive liquor scam involving 3,500 crore during the YSRCP regime in Andhra Pradesh. . In a detailed 'X' post, the Congress MP mentioned that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has exposed that Jagan Mohan Reddy ran an alleged Rs 3500 crore liquor scam and how it became a 'scientific' method for looting the public money. As per him, the scam began with recruiting over 200 engineering graduates and unemployed youth, who were lured with high incentives and promises of lucrative jobs. These individuals were assigned roles such as cash carriers, storage agents, and front men, without being privy to the full extent of the scam. Explaining the 'Step by Step Corruption' model during the 2019 to 2024 period in Andhra Pradesh, Manickam Tagore wrote in X post, 'Step 1: Target the Unemployed Recruit over 200 engineering grads & jobless youth. Lure them with high incentives. Sell them a dream. Step 2: Role Assignment Use them as cash carriers, storage agents, front men. Make sure they don't know the full picture.' He alleged that the illicit cash was stored in apartments across Tadepalli and Amaravati, using carton boxes that could be easily hidden and moved and the kingpins behind the scam held meetings in Dubai, Tanzania, and South Africa to set up liquor factories and expand their black money empire. 'Step 3: Secure Storage Hubs Store illegal cash in apartments across Tadepalli & Amaravati. Use carton boxes -- easy to hide, easy to move. Step 4: Cut Them Off Once job is done, cut ties. Offer them jobs in Hyderabad or silence money. Clean exit. No loose ends. Step 5: Global Expansion Kingpins hold meetings in Dubai, Tanzania, and South Africa to set up liquor factories. Use illicit funds to expand black money empire. Step 6: Exit Strategy When heat rises, plan international travel. SIT suspects Colombo was a planned safe zone,' posted the Congress leader. He also named Raj Kesireddy, B Chanakya, Chevireddy Bhaskar, and Mohit Reddy as key players of the liquor scam, with deep political links. 'Who Were the Key Players? Raj Kesireddy B Chanakya (his PA) Former MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Mohit Reddy And more -- all with deep political links,' he added. Tagore also alleged an understanding between BJP-Jagan and said that Jagan's support for the BJP on various bills may have led to protection from ED raids, CBI summons, and Income Tax action. 'Modi-Shah's Role: Silence = Protection Jagan supported BJP on: Article 370 CAA Farm Laws Rajya Sabha bills What did he get in return? No ED raids No CBI summons No Income Tax action Delhi protected Andhra's biggest looter,' he added. The Congress leader questioned the SIT investigation into the scam, its seriousness and potential narrative control by new power centres and demanded that everyone involved be booked, overseas black money be investigated, and those accountable be held. 'Why SIT Now? Now that Jagan is out of power, SIT is moving. But the question remains: Is SIT serious? Or just narrative control by new power centres? What Must Happen Next? Book everyone involved Trace overseas black money Investigate BJP-Jagan understanding Hold Delhi & Andhra players accountable Final Word This isn't just a liquor scam. It's a case study in how power, politics, and youth were manipulated for mega corruption. And it was all scientifically executed -- with help from Delhi. Let justice now be as methodical as the scam itself,' posted Tagore. (ANI)