Dhaka: Ruling Awami League’s student wing the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) have unceremoniously removed one of the most beloved pieces of graffiti etched on any wall of Dhaka University, simply because it depicted an activist of a different student front.

The Raju memorial graffiti, although not to be confused with the more famous Raju sculpture near TSC, does pay tribute to the same rebel spirit: Moin Hossain Raju, an activist of Bangladesh Chhatra Union who was gunned down during an antiterrorism procession in 1992.

Apart from the famous sculpture for which DU commissioned the artist Shyamol Chowdhury, Raju, a student of soil sciences, also inspired a memorial graffiti which was painted on a wall of the Dhaka University (DU) central library.

While the sculpture acted as a formal tribute, the graffiti was in keeping with DU’s distinctive style, intensely political, subversive and anonymous. Now it is gone. 

DU Chhatra Union Unit president Tuhin Kanti Das said on Wednesday evening, 2 workers directed by BCL leaders erased the graffiti at the central library wall which was painted more than twenty years ago for the first time.

‘We tried to convince the Chhatra League Leaders to spare the graffiti as it was a symbol of protest against terrorism which also represented protesting spirit of Dhaka University but they did not pay any heed,’ Tuhin added.

Chhatra League central General Secretary S M Jakir Hossain said, we have a different sub-committee for observing 70th founding anniversary day. They know the matter well.

Contacted, DU Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman said, ‘I heard the matter, university administration never painted the wall. We have no direction to remove the graffiti.’