Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Bangladesh rioters destroying Mujibur Rahman's statue: 'Do they know their history?'

Biocon founder and chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw recently reacted to a video of rioters in Bangladesh vandalising statues of the founding father of their nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Popularly known as "Bangabandhu", the former president of the country was also ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's father.

Taking to X, Mazumdar-Shaw called it a sad day for Bangladesh. "Destroying the statue of the father of the nation? Do they even know their history?" she wrote.

The unrest that broke out in the country eventually leading to Hasina fleeing to India, witnessed several statues of Rahman being destroyed. One of the videos doing rounds on social media even showed a man urinating while standing atop one of the statues. A museum dedicated to him was also set on fire.

Commenting on the incident, Pakistani journalist Bilal Farooqi said, “It’s unfortunate that the change in #Bangladesh has come at the cost of this where a man is hitting the statue of its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman with a shoe. I hope this revolution doesn’t turn into space for religious extremism — a case in point is that of Pakistan…”