Dhaka loses more than just Satyajit Ray’s house

THE wave of demolitions across Bangladesh reflects a troubling trend — a cavalier disregard for history, memory and the landmarks that anchor nations in their identity. The latest is the demolition of Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home in Dhaka. It amounts to not merely the razing of an old structure, but to obliterating a vital chapter of the subcontinent’s shared cultural heritage. The house, more than a hundred years old, belonged to Ray’s grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, a pioneering figure in Bengali literature and printing. It was a cradle of creativity that nurtured the Ray family and produced one of cinema’s greatest directors. The Bangladesh government’s justification — of structural risk — rings hollow when weighed against the heritage value. If safety was a concern, the building could have been preserved by restoration. Legacies once lost are impossible to resurrect. That such erasure occurs in a nation that takes pride in its cultural identity is troubling.

Worse, it follows closely on the heels of the mob-led vandalism of Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home. It also echoes another disturbing episode from February when a similar disregard for memory was evident in the violent destruction of Dhanmondi 32 — Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s former residence, turned into a museum — during political protests. The mob not only set fire to the site but also ransacked Sudha Sadan, Sheikh Hasina’s residence. Such demolitions reveal a dangerous willingness to sacrifice cultural memory to populism or neglect. As Sheikh Hasina aptly said, “A structure can be erased, but history cannot be wiped out.”

India had urged Bangladesh to reconsider Ray’s home demolition, offering help for its restoration. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, too, had appealed. But the appeals fell on deaf ears. What Dhaka has lost is not just a house. It was a part of its cultural history.

Editorials