Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigosthi on Friday staged a protest rally and demonstration in the capital, condemning the arson attack on its central office and alleging that the interim government and law enforcement agencies failed to act despite clear advance threats.
The protest march, organized by the Udichi, began at Paltan Mor in front of Udichi’s central office opposite the National Press Club. A brief protest rally was held there.
Speakers at the rally described the attack as a direct assault on free thought and progressive cultural practice in Bangladesh. They demanded the immediate identification and exemplary punishment of those responsible for the vandalism and arson.
Udichi (one faction) General Secretary Amit Ranjan Dey accused the interim government of “complete failure” to ensure security for the organisation, even though threats had been issued openly beforehand.
“On Thursday night, attacks, vandalism, arson and looting took place at the offices of Prothom Alo, The Daily Star and the Chhayanaut building. After that, direct threats were issued against Udichi,” Dey said. “Despite being fully aware of the situation, the interim government and the administration took no measures to protect Udichi. As a result, miscreants were able to set fire to our office without any resistance on Friday evening.”
He said the fire caused extensive damage, destroying important documents, musical instruments and furniture accumulated over Udichi’s 57-year history. Calling the destruction of the organization’s archive a “cultural catastrophe,” Amit said decades of collected songs, theatre scripts, photographs and records of cultural resistance were wiped out in a single night.
Udichi leaders further alleged that, despite clear threats from various quarters, the government’s inaction has effectively emboldened fundamentalist forces. They claimed the interim government had deviated from the spirit of the July uprising and was, in practice, appeasing extremist elements.
Addressing the rally, speakers urged all “conscientious citizens” to stand united against what they described as dark, anti-democratic forces. They warned that continued state inaction would further encourage extremist violence.
Reiterating Udichi’s historical role, Amit said the organization has stood alongside every just movement of the country’s freedom-loving people since before independence. “Udichi’s artist-activists were involved in the armed struggle during the Liberation War. Whenever people’s rights have been threatened, whenever oppression and exploitation have intensified, Udichi has taken to the streets with cultural resistance,” he said.
Speakers at the rally also said the organization has repeatedly been targeted because of this legacy, recalling past attacks including the 1999 bomb attack in Jashore, the 2005 bombing in Netrokona and the latest arson in Dhaka.
Declaring that the movement would continue until accountability is ensured, they said: “This march is not the end. We will remain on the streets until justice is served.”
Udichi Co-General Secretary Pradip Ghosh said those who failed to arrest the killers of Osman Hadi and those who have been unable to control mob violence across the country are now conspicuously silent. “This shows they do not want justice. They want to exploit these incidents for their own political gains,” he said.
Ghosh alleged that by attacking Prothom Alo, The Daily Star and Chhayanaut institutions that played significant roles during the July uprising and have long upheld progressive cultural values extremist forces have demonstrated that they do not want peace or security in Bangladesh.
“They want to turn Bangladesh into a failed state so that foreign imperialist intervention becomes easier,” he said, adding that the people of the country would never allow such conspiracies to succeed.
Meanwhile, Udichi’s General Secretary of another faction, Jamsed Anwar Tapan, told Dhaka Tribune that the attack was planned and followed public threats issued earlier.
According to Tapan, during a Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (Jucsu) gathering on Thursday night, a man reportedly affiliated with Islami Chhatra Shibir openly threatened to attack Udichi. Videos of the threat have since circulated on social media, he claimed.
He further alleged that Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (Rucsu) Vice President Zahid also issued threats and incited violence against Udichi on the same night.
