Bangladesh, under the caretaker government of Mohammad Yunus, is reportedly staring at a currency note shortage, because the Bangladesh Central bank, under orders from the current regime, has halted the release of notes featuring Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As reported by the Times of India, previously printed notes worth around 15,000 crores have been stopped from issuance because they feature the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The current regime, under the influence of Islamic groups, has been trying to erode all presentations of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from public memory. After the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina, Rahman’s daughter, the protesting Islamic groups, under the guise of student rebels, had attacked, looted and burned down the iconic house of Mujibur Rahman in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. Statues and pictures of Mujibur Rahman have been damaged across the country.
Centra Bank officials, under the condition of anonymity, have stated that taxpayer money worth thousands of crores is being wasted amid an economic crisis, just because the current regime does not want Mujibur Rahman’s pictures on notes.
Ziauddin Ahmed, the former Managing Director of Security Printing Corporation, the organisation that prints bank notes in Bangladesh, said, “Notes with Bangabandhu’s image cannot be suddenly cancelled, especially when there is a shortage in the market. New notes can be gradually printed and slowly circulated to replace the old notes.”
