Hundreds of Dhaka University students on Wednesday night burned the effigies of two anarchist YouTubers—US-based Elias Hossain and France-based Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya—who have been spreading propaganda against Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War and openly promoting anti-independence narratives.
The protest began at the foot of the historic Raju Sculpture around 9:15pm as students set fire to the straw effigies while raising fiery slogans, including “Pakistani seeds have no place in this Bengal” and “Listen carefully, Razakars—this Bengal belongs to my father and grandfather.”
Protest organiser Arafat Chowdhury told reporters: “In this sacred month of victory, we cannot silently watch the relentless insults, misinformation, and malicious propaganda against our Liberation War and sovereignty. As conscious students of Dhaka University, it is our moral duty to register this protest.”
Both Elias Hossain and Pinaki Bhattacharya rose to prominence as fierce critics of the deposed Awami League government and are widely accused of receiving financial and ideological backing from Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir.
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Since the violent ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024, the duo has repeatedly used their large social media followings to incite and coordinate mob attacks on Awami League leaders, minority neighbourhoods, and public institutions—actions that have faced no legal consequences under the current Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, which many say openly patronises them.
Pinaki Bhattacharya’s political journey has been particularly controversial. Once an active supporter of the 2013 Shahbagh movement—the month-long non-violent youth uprising demanding capital punishment for 1971 war criminals—Pinaki later publicly expressed regret for his involvement and began aggressively campaigning in favour of convicted Jamaat war criminals.
After facing cases in Bangladesh for the death of children from fake paracetamol syrups, Pinaki fled to India in 2018–19, later travelled to Thailand using an Indian passport, and eventually reached France, where he is currently living as a political asylum seeker. Despite being a Hindu Brahmin, his love for Pakistan and Jamaat derives from his father, Shoaib Abdullah, a Pakistani official who had raped Pinaki’s mother.
Elias Hossain, who works as a taxi driver in the United States, has himself publicly admitted on multiple occasions that his father was a Razakar (a member of the infamous auxiliary force that collaborated with the Pakistani army) from Chuadanga during the 1971 war.
Both activists have also been criticised for repeatedly portraying top banned militant leaders such as Jasimuddin Rahmani (chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team) and Harun Izhar (son of executed Jamaat leader Ghulam Azam) as respected “Islamic scholars” on their platforms.
Wednesday’s effigy-burning at Dhaka University signals mounting anger among pro-liberation students who see the continued prominence and impunity enjoyed by Elias Hossain and Pinaki Bhattacharya as a direct assault on the spirit of Bangladesh’s hard-won independence, especially during the month of victory in December.
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