Black ink on Tagore: The fight over Bangladesh's identity

The surprising trigger was not a speech but black ink spread across a public portrait of Rabindranath Tagore. Marzia Khandaker Rimi, a senior leader of the Rashtra Sanglap Forum, carried out the act outside Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on October 10. She called the protest opposition to “Indian aggression” and accused Tagore of mistreating Muslims while managing family estates.

Rimi was arrested with three others, including forum leader ANM Ayas. The arrests followed the public defacement of a portrait commissioned for a Dhaka South City Corporation footpath project. The dispute therefore involved both political protest and damage to a public artwork. Officials and political figures described the episode as connected to Jamaat-e-Islami influence.

Jamaat leaders demanded the case be withdrawn and the four accused released. At an October 14 hearing, bail was rejected after a heated exchange, and the accused were sent to jail. The controversy widened because Tagore wrote Bangladesh's national anthem, Amar Sonar Bangla.

Rabindranath Tagore was a poet and writer whose work included Gitanjali, poems, stories and Amar Sonar Bangla. The article presents him as a major Bengali cultural figure whose influence crosses present-day national borders. He died before India and Pakistan came into existence, a fact that makes modern attempts to label him politically striking.

His special importance to Bangladesh comes from Amar Sonar Bangla, which is the country's national anthem. His work was also taught in schools, and the article notes that people protesting his portrait would themselves have sung the anthem and studied his writing. Zainul Abedin, a celebrated Bangladeshi artist, defended Tagore during the East Pakistan era.

That legacy now sits inside a political dispute. Critics called Tagore “Indian” and demanded his image be erased, while others saw the attack as part of a wider challenge to Bangladesh's Liberation War legacy and cultural identity. The repeated controversies show why his work remains politically powerful.

The Rashtra Sanglap Forum is a political group that emerged after Bangladesh's July 2024 uprising. Its senior leader, Marzia Khandaker Rimi, joined a protest against what she called “Indian aggression.” The forum therefore appears in the article as part of the new political landscape created by the uprising.

Jamaat-e-Islami appears as an organised religious political force. Government figures accused Jamaat of orchestrating the portrait defacement, and Rashed Khan alleged that an adviser to its chief financed protest materials. Jamaat assistant secretary general Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair rejected the authorities' approach by demanding the case be withdrawn and the accused released.

The connection remains politically charged rather than fully established by the article. Prominent uprising leaders warned about growing Jamaat influence and a turn toward far-right politics. Mahfuz Alam also accused some secular civil-society groups of aligning with Jamaat and its student wing against the BNP, deepening post-uprising tensions.

The article describes four separate attacks or acts of defacement involving Tagore, places linked to him, or a cultural institution. The first occurred in Dhaka on October 10, when black ink was smeared across Tagore's portrait. The image was one of ten commissioned for a Dhaka South City Corporation beautification project.

The second occurred in April 2025, when a mural of Tagore at Kumarkhali in Kushtia district was defaced with black paint. The third came on June 10, 2025, when a crowd stormed the Rabindra Kacharibari complex at Shahjadpur in Sirajganj district and damaged parts of the site.

The fourth was a broader cultural attack. On December 19, 2025, a mob stormed Chhayanaut's complex in Dhaka's Dhanmondi, ransacking offices and classrooms, destroying instruments and books, and setting parts of the premises on fire. The incidents show a widening target beyond one portrait.

The article does not detail the 1905 partition of Bengal, so that part requires established historical context. The partition divided Bengal under British rule and helped turn Bengali language, culture and political loyalty into contested questions. Tagore opposed the division and wrote Amar Sonar Bangla during that period; the song later became Bangladesh's national anthem.

The creation of India and Pakistan in 1947 added a national boundary to a shared Bengali cultural world. Tagore, who had died before those countries existed, could not fit neatly into later arguments that treated him as exclusively “Indian.” His Bengali work continued to be claimed, taught and debated across borders.

Bangladesh's independence in 1971 gave Amar Sonar Bangla a central national role. That history explains why calling Tagore merely Indian, or erasing his image, is so provocative in Bangladesh. The article connects the present dispute to wider arguments about the Liberation War legacy, secular culture and national belonging.

The immediate legal consequence was severe. Four protesters, including Marzia Khandaker Rimi and ANM Ayas, were arrested after the Dhaka defacement. Their bail was rejected at an October 14 court hearing following a heated exchange, and they were sent to jail. Jamaat-e-Islami demanded that the case be withdrawn and the accused released.

The public artworks also faced different outcomes. The Tagore portrait was part of a group commissioned by Dhaka South City Corporation. The corporation later added portraits of Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Jibanananda Das and Jasimuddin, while removing singer and journalist Sanjib Choudhury's portrait. A Tagore mural defaced in Kumarkhali was subsequently restored by local authorities.

The Rabindra Kacharibari complex suffered damage to an auditorium, doors and windows. Chhayanaut endured the most extensive destruction: its offices and classrooms were ransacked, musical instruments and books were destroyed, and parts of the complex were set on fire. The article does not state later repairs.

Political movements use cultural symbols because they can define a nation more powerfully than abstract slogans. A poet, song or monument can represent language, history and shared memory. Attacking or displaying one therefore sends a message about who belongs, whose history counts and what values the country should protect.

The article gives clear examples. Tagore's portrait was attacked after protesters called him Indian and opposed alleged Indian aggression. Yet he wrote Amar Sonar Bangla, Bangladesh's national anthem. The Dhaka project also displayed figures such as Kazi Nazrul Islam, Satyajit Ray, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Zainul Abedin. These choices made public art part of a national story.

Cultural institutions can become targets in the same struggle. Chhayanaut was accused by some attackers of promoting Indian culture, while Mahfuz Alam warned that Bangladesh had entered far-right politics. The continuing attacks suggest that cultural symbols may remain central to future fights over nationalism, religion and Bangladesh's identity.