Yunus orders removal of President’s portraits, sparking unease in Bangladesh

New Delhi: Barely a year after the fall of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh appears poised for another interesting turn of events, evident from the incumbent Interim Government’s decision to remove portraits of the President Mohammed Shahabuddin from official walls.

The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry has ordered the removal of all portraits of the President from all Bangladeshi diplomatic missions, embassies, High Commissions, consulates, diplomat’s offices and residences abroad. Indian diplomats familiar with Bangladeshi internal affairs said this could be the first move to create moral pressure on the incumbent President to resign.

Speculation is rife that the armed forces may not permit such a thing to happen as the President is Supreme Commander of the country’s defence forces, creating another area of contention between them and the civilian Interim government led by Chief Advisor Mohamed Yunus.

August has a history in which many dramatic changes have occurred in Bangladesh; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most of his family, 50 years ago, on August 15, 1975. His daughter Sheikh Hasina had to flee from her office and her country on August 5 2024.

The day (August 16, 2025) the Bangladesh Government took the decision to remove the President’s portrait from its official buildings, the country’s three defence forces chiefs came out together at a public function in Dhaka to observe the Hindu festival of ‘Janmastami’ at the Dhakeswari temple in the nation’s capital city. This has never happened before in Bangladesh.

Many diplomats feel that it is extremely rare for all three defence forces chiefs to come out publicly to reassure the minority community that they would live peacefully in Bangladesh. When any public protest has taken place there, especially over the past year, the minority communities have been attacked.

This time, the Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, along with the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Nazmul Hasan and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, stressed that the armed forces would always stand behind ordinary citizens to safeguard their peace, security and harmony; thereby clearly signaling that no untoward incidents would be allowed. The ‘Janmastami’ festival, heralding the birth of the Hindu deity Krishna, was observed peacefully across Bangladesh and minority community welcomed the gesture.

President Shahabuddin was appointed during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina and is known to be a follower of the ideals of the late Mujibur Rahman, also known as ‘Bangabandhu’ and Father of the Nation. Since the Constitution of Bangladesh has been suspended by the Interim Government, the President cannot be removed by impeachment. Since assuming office in August 2024, the Interim Government has been systemically allowing the erasure of Sheikh Mujib’s legacy. This latest move, to remove portraits of the incumbent President from government offices and missions, is being interpreted by diplomats in that light.

The order to remove the portraits came from the Foreign Office on Saturday, through phone calls made separately to embassies, sources in the ministry said. Most of the Bangladesh national dailies have published the news prominently on Sunday. Until now, portraits of President Shahabuddin were displayed in all Bangladeshi diplomatic missions and diplomat’s residences abroad.

In the New Delhi High Commission, upon receiving the order, High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah held an in house meeting of his diplomats to discuss the issue. Portraits displayed in some rooms of the mission were removed. Last year, after 5th August, portraits of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman and deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were removed.

In October last year, President Sahahbuddin had commented that he had not seen Prime Minister Hasina’s resignation letter, after which students who were responsible for the removal of the Premier stormed the ‘Ganabhavan’ (residence of President) and demanded the President’s resignation.

The Army then opposed the move because the President is their Supreme Commander and should not be removed unceremoniously. A year later, when the government sought the removal of his portraits from government buildings, chiefs of the three defence forces immediately came out in public, in what many observers view as their opposition to the Interim Government’s decision to remove the presidential portraits.

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