Over a thousand rampaging students of Jamia Islamia Yunisia Madrasa on Monday burnt down the legendary music maestro Bharat Ratna Ustad Allauddin Khan’s more than a century-old ancestral home in Brahmanbaria, about 200 km east of Dhaka. Destroyed in the process were some of the priceless exhibits like two sarods, one sitar, two violins, one santoor, one sarengi and one banjo, which were once the maestro’s favourite musical instruments along with 25 original letters written by him to world leaders.
Also destroyed were two exclusive Persian carpets presented to him by Maharaja of Maihar late Brijnath Singh, sitting on which “Baba”, as he was fondly referred to in the music world, used to do his riyaaz (music practice) every morning.
Also reduced to ashes were over 1,000 rare photographs shot with various Indian and world dignitaries. The ancestral home had been turned into a museum-cum-school of music, dance and art, named Sangitayan where Indian classical, vocal and musical instruments were taught and art and dance classes were regularly held.
The school had over 400 students on its roll and was attracting people mostly from the town’s Muslim middle class families. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the son of the maestro, was a frequent visitor to this ancestral home when he was alive.
While officials of Sangitayan claim that the damage to the home-cum-museum was well over taka 10 crores, the priceless exhibits destroyed in the blaze could not be quantified in monetary terms as they were irreplaceable.
Burning down of the ustad’s ancestral home has robbed Bangladesh of the rich cultural legacy bequeathed by Baba. The madrasa students while making a bonfire of the musical instruments were shouting slogans like, “There is no place for dance, music and art in a Muslim majority Bangladesh where Sharia laws will reign supreme. Hindu art and culture has no place in an Islamic society.”
Although Ustad Allauddin Khan was a devout Muslim who offered namaz (prayers) five times a day, the Sangitayan had long been a target of Muslim fundamentalists for popularising and promoting “un-Islamic” culture in Bangladesh.
Brahmanbaria has for long been a hotbed of Islamic radicals. It had returned Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia’s nominee belonging to Islami Oikya Jote, Fazlul Haque Amini to Parliament. It was Amini who had coined the infamous slogan: “We all shall become Taliban, shall turn our land into another Afghanistan.”
Sangitayan was not the only target which incurred the wrath of the students. There are other numerous cultural organisations whose premises were also located in the neighbourhood that were targeted by the students. For instance, Dhirendranath Datta language and cultural centre was also first vandalized and later reduced to ashes.
Datta was the first Member of Parliament in Pakistan’s National Assembly who in 1950 had demanded that Bangla and not Urdu should be made the national language of Pakistan because Bangla-speaking people were more numerous than Urdu speaking residents. Only a few days before the attack, the language centre was the venue of a massive Bangla cultural festival.
The incident has outraged many Bangladeshis and Dhaka dailies have carried headlines screaming against the outrage like “Burning smell in maestro’s music world”.
Abdul Mannan, secretary, Sangitayan said: “What these fanatics have done is that they have destroyed the rich cultural heritage of Bangladesh forever. It can never be rebuilt.”
His lament has been echoed by other noted cultural personalities of Bangladesh who have demanded exemplary punishment for the culprits. They have regretted that while the attack was on, the police present there in sizable strength chose to be a silent spectator. They sought to know from Sheikh Hasina’s Government whether it wanted to turn Brahmanbaria into a Pakistani enclave.