DU student tears up images of Jinnah at DUCSU gallery

A senior student tore up the images of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding leader, at a gallery of DUCSU, in protest against attempts to “glorify anti-Bangladesh individuals” by the current Shibir-led DUCSU.

Afterwards, a student from a leftist group put up an image of former Jamaat-e-Islami leader and Chhatra Shibir's ideological patron Ghulam Azam, who reportedly stood against the liberation of Bangladesh.

The image shows a group of people harassing and beating Ghulam Azam with shoes for his anti-Liberation War stance, and its depiction at the DUCSU gallery was apparently another attempt to condemn alleged DUCSU moves aimed at promoting anti-independence narrative.

Earlier, around 2:30pm, Abu Taiyyab Habildar, a student from the 2001-02 admission session of Urdu Department, went to the newly renovated DUCSU gallery and tore up all three images of Jinnah put up there.

He also spat on the images to express his disgust at the late Pakistani leader.

Abu Taiyyab vied for the vice president post in the 2025 DUCSU elections, and was known as the senior-most candidate in the highly-anticipated student polls.

After tearing up Jinnah’s images, he told reporters that the Pakistani leader publicly announced his position against Bangla language at a public rally in Dhaka, despite opposition from DU students at the event.

Abu Taiyyab further alleged that Jinnah also oversaw the detention of over 2,000 students at a hartal called in protest against the Pakistani moves aimed at announcing Urdu as the only state language of the country.

He further alleged that the leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, rose to power at DUCSU through students’ votes. In their election manifesto, these Shibir leaders did not say they would set up Jinnah as a hero.

The Shibir-led DUCSU panel is attempting to set up the narrative favouring other historic anti-state figures as well, he alleged, vowing to resist any such attempts.