Newly-unveiled Rabindranath Tagore statue at Dhaka University campus vanishes, then reappears

A newly-unveiled statue of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore installed by students at the prestigious Dhaka University campus, which was vandalised last week, has been partially re-installed by authorities.

On February 14, students of Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts installed a Tagore statue with duct tape plastered on his mouth, showing him holding a copy of Gitanjali, with a nail pierced through it, according to news agency UNB.

The symbolic statue was installed near the Raju Memorial Sculpture, a prominent landmark on the campus, to protest the censorship on the campus, the report said.

On February 16, the statue mysteriously disappeared, with its severed head being found nearly 2km from the university campus, UNB reported.

On Sunday, the statue was partially re-installed at the same spot -- only with the head but the duct tape was removed, the report added.

Shimul Kumbhakar, president of a faction of Dhaka University's Student Union, who was involved in the making of the statue, told UNB: "Dhaka University's proctor removed the sculpture in the dark of night and cut it into two parts. We collected the broken parts from Suhrawardy Udayan and re-installed it."

Responding to the Chhatra Union leader's comment, the University proctor told UNB: "We did not tear down the sculpture, we just relocated it from there. What they are doing is a complete violation of the regulations of the university."

Earlier, the statue's disappearance sparked protests on the campus, with aggrieved Dhaka University students displaying banners that read: “Gum Hoye Gechen Rabindranath” (Rabindranath has disappeared), the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.