The sacred precincts of the Shaheed Minar—symbol of Bengali sacrifice and national pride—were once again desecrated in the early hours of Saturday, this time by unruly mobs linked to the BNP and the NCP.
Independent lawmaker Rumeen Farhana and leaders of the Jatiya Party (JaPa) became the latest victims of mobocracy, as aggressive BNP activists prevented them from paying tribute to the Language Movement martyrs, assaulted their supporters, damaged floral wreaths, and seized banners in brazen displays of intolerance.
In Brahmanbaria, Rumeen Farhana alleged she was deliberately targeted in a pre-planned attack by her rivals, who were defeated in the elections on February 12.
Her supporters suffered severe injuries while attempting to lay wreaths at the local Shaheed Minar. The floral tribute itself was vandalised amid the chaos, underscoring the mob’s contempt for even symbolic acts of remembrance. Farhana condemned the incident as a clear violation of democratic rights.
Mobocracy: Why Home Minister Salahuddin’s hollow promises are pathetic
Tarique’s Inaugural Address: Empty rhetoric amid unaddressed atrocities
Jamaat chief goes to Shaheed Minar with war criminal Azhar, faces backlash
A similar outrage unfolded at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka around 2am. Jatiya Party leaders and activists, carrying banners and bouquets, entered the area behind the NCP’s metropolitan unit. After the NCP team completed their tribute, a group—identified by eyewitnesses as aligned with BNP—began shouting provocative slogans upon spotting the JaPa banner.
They then forcibly snatched the Jatiya Party’s banners and flowers, forcing the delegation to leave without paying homage. The incident stands as a shameful violation of the sanctity of the Shaheed Minar and a stark reminder of the ruling party’s failure to control its own cadres.
These attacks are not isolated aberrations; they are symptoms of a deeper malaise that has festered since the BNP assumed power.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed’s February 18 declaration—vowing zero tolerance for “mob culture,” road blockades, and public inconvenience—now rings utterly hollow. While he promised swift action against unlawful disruptions, rebuilt police trust, and a corruption-free ministry, his words conveniently sidestepped the regime’s glaring complicity in—or at best, indifference to—the relentless mob violence that has claimed over 1,000 lives of Awami League members and supporters since August 2024.
The pattern is unmistakable: BNP-Jamaat-linked thugs have enjoyed near-impunity in targeted killings, extortion rackets, business seizures, and political harassment. Yet when it comes to curbing the very rowdy elements within their own ranks—who disrupt public spaces, assault opposition figures, and tarnish national symbols—the government’s response remains conspicuously absent or tepid.
Senior journalist Probir Kumar Sarker suggested that the BNP leadership, including Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, must stop issuing platitudes and start delivering discipline. If the party truly believes in restoring law and order and ending mobocracy, it must begin by disciplining its own activists. Expel the perpetrators, prosecute the attackers, and send an unequivocal message that no one—especially not ruling-party loyalists—is above the law.
Failure to act will only confirm what many already suspect: that the regime’s tough talk on “mob culture” is selective outrage reserved for political opponents, while its own cadres are given free rein to intimidate, assault, and humiliate. The Shaheed Minar is not a battleground for partisan thuggery; it is a monument to sacrifice and unity. The BNP government owes it to the martyrs—and to the nation—to prove it can govern with maturity, not mob rule, Probir said.
Bengali 
English