Fact Check: Old video of Tagore’s statue installation in Bangladesh shared as vandalism visuals
A video has gone viral claiming to show a statue of Indian poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh that was allegedly recently demolished because he was a Hindu.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 8 Aug 2024 11:32 AM GMT
Claim: Viral video shows Rabindranath Tagore’s statue being pulled down in Bangladesh because of Tagore’s Hindu identity.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is old and shows the installation of Rabindranath Tagore’s sculpture at Dhaka University.
Hyderabad: Protests erupted in Bangladesh last month over a controversial job quota system, leading to nationwide unrest and a severe crackdown by authorities. Nearly 300 people were killed within weeks, marking one of the most violent periods of prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Amid this unrest, a video has gone viral claiming to show a statue of Indian poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh that was allegedly recently demolished because he was a Hindu.
An X user shared the video with the caption “His only fault is that he is a Hindu. The Islamists broke the statue of the world poet Rabindranath Tagore in #Bangladesh” (Archive)
Similar posts can be seen here and here. (Archive), (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows the installation of Tagore’s statue by the students of Dhaka University.
Upon analysing the video, we found a logo with text in the top right corner of the video. Using Google Lens, we translated the Bangla text into English which said ‘prothom alo’.
Using this as a keyword, we searched online to find the extended version of the video; a report published by the YouTube channel ‘Prothom Alo’ on February 16, 2023, titled ‘Protest Sculpture.’
The viral clip can be seen from the 0:31-minute mark, confirming the video is old.
A keyword search revealed a report by RTV News titled ‘Sculpture of Rabindranath in DU to protest against censorship and oppression.’ The report, which contained a screenshot from the video, stated that the sculpture was installed by Dhaka University students at the entrance of a book fair. The sculpture was to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of speech and expression.
According to the report, students from the Fine Arts Faculty of DU played a key role in constructing the sculpture. This confirmed that the visuals showed the installation of Rabindranath Tagore’s sculpture, not demolition.
We also found a report by BD News 24 titled, “After high drama, DU authorities admit to removing ‘unsanctioned’ Tagore sculpture,” on February 19, 2023.
According to the report, Dhaka University proctor Prof Dr AKM Golam Rabbani said the institution’s authorities removed the sculpture because it was installed without their consent.
A report from Dhaka Tribune titled ‘DU authority removes Tagore sculpture from campus’ on February 17, 2023, showed images of students displaying a banner against the removal of the sculpture.
The report stated that after the sculpture’s disappearance, aggrieved DU students displayed a banner that read: ‘Gum Hoye Gechen Rabindranath’ (Rabindranath has disappeared) at the site where the sculpture was built.
An X post by IANS on February 19, 2023, reported that the sculpture of Rabindranath Tagore was reinstalled on the Dhaka University campus after it was removed by authorities and later vandalised.
Hence the claim that Rabindranath Tagore’s statue was pulled down amid the current unrest in Bangladesh is false.
