Rabindranath Tagore's mural defaced in Kushtia, later restored by authorities

A mural of legendary Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in Kushtia's Kumarkhali upazila was defaced with black paint, covering his face and distorting the inscription below.

Local authorities restored the mural to its original state yesterday (4 April) after a photo of the vandalised mural went viral on Facebook, reports Prothom Alo.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) SM Mikhail Islam said, "This incident likely occurred two days ago during the Eid holidays. The paint has been removed this afternoon."

The mural was installed in 2015 by the Upazila Parishad at Hijlakor area near the Kumarkhali boundary on the Kushtia-Rajbari regional highway.

Citing local sources, Prothom Alo reports that the vandalism, which included covering Tagore's face and distorting the spelling of his name below, was first noticed in a widely shared Facebook post. Despite a CCTV camera at the site, it was found to be non-functional. 

Several local poets and writers protested the act on social media. Moslem Uddin, a member of the Sadaki Union Parishad's Ward-9, claimed, "I had noticed similar black paint on the mural about a month ago."

Reful Karim, a former student of Shantiniketan and a resident of Kumarkhali, wrote on Facebook, "The face of Rabindranath Tagore has been covered with black paint on the commemorative plaque of Gitanjali. How could such a distorted mindset emerge in a place where Tagore wrote most of Gitanjali and where we take pride in the legacy of both Tagore and Lalon Shah?"

Kumarkhali Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Bijoy Kumar Jowardar said they visited the site after learning about the incident and ensured the mural's cleanup by yesterday afternoon.