The ancestral home of Begum Rokeya, a trailblazer in Bengali women's education and a dedicated social reformer advocating for equal rights, is perilously close to extinction.
Despite annual plans to celebrate Begum Rokeya Day on December 9, there has been a noticeable lack of initiative from the administration to renovate the deteriorating houses and the memorial center in Rangpur.
While the administration continues its yearly preparations for Begum Rokeya Day, there are no visible steps or initiatives being taken to preserve the memory of this pioneer in women's rights. The Rokeya memorial center has remained closed for the past five years, contributing to the gradual erosion of Begum Rokeya's legacy.
This year, a seven-day program has been organized to mark Begum Rokeya Day, but there is a conspicuous absence of efforts by authorities to renovate the crumbling houses and memorials that are on the brink of destruction, showing no initiative to keep her memory alive.
The Begum Rokeya Memorial Centre was constructed at Payrabanda village in Rangour at a cost of Tk5 crore to preserve Rokeya's memory, rehabilitate underprivileged women and research on Rokeya's life and books written by her.
After the BNP came to power in 2001, the memorial was completely closed. Salaries and allowances of officials and employees were stopped.
Tug of war over taking control
In 2008, when the caretaker government came to power, the initiative to reopen the memorial centre was taken but not implemented.
At that time, a tug of war started between the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Bangla Academy over taking control of the centre.
In this regard, three officers and employees of the memorial filed a writ petition in the High Court.
In the end, the Supreme Court handed over the responsibility of the memorial centre to Bangla Academy.
In this regard, Rokeya researcher Rafiqul Islam Dulal, also general secretary of Begum Rokeya Memorial Sangsad said that after the judgment of the highest court of the country in 2018, Bangla Academy once again took responsibility for Begum Rokeya Memorial Centre, ancestral home and the entire complex.
Bangla Academy did not take any steps to fully operationalize the memorial centre within three years.
Not only that, Deputy Director Abdullah Al Farooq, who was given the charge of the memorial, was summoned and taken to Dhaka. Then, he was given another charge.
The official told this correspondent that he had recently retired after being promoted as director.
PM’s revival initiative also failed
Meanwhile, after being closed for five years, the memorial centre was finally reopened from 2018 following an instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
But nothing visible happened this time as well.
Only an officer was appointed as an assistant librarian. However, there is a library but not a single book in the library.
No initiative was taken to conduct research or study on Begum Rokeya.
All the machines which were used to train the destitute women have become dysfunctional.
For the last five years, two officers and a guard have been spending idle days without any work.
Memorial centre on verge of destruction
Meanwhile, due to lack of renovation of the memorial centre which was built 15 years ago, the plaster of the building is decaying. The auditorium is also crumbling.
Along with this, cracks have been developed in different parts of the building. Valuables are also destroying in the centre. There is no initiative to renovate the centre.
As a result, the memorial centre has been completely closed for almost five years.
Ancestral home in dire straits
Not only is the memorial centre, the ancestral home of Begum Rokeya also in dire straits. No memorial has been erected there till now. The home is now on the verge of destruction due to negligence of the administration.
The readers and fans of Begum Rokeya from different parts of the country expressed their anger and dissatisfaction after seeing this.
Once many visitors from different parts of the country used to come, the number of visitors decreased in the last two years.
Researchers considers PM’s direct intervention
In this regard, Researcher Dr Tuhin Wadud, teacher of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) and Rokeya Researcher Dr Shaswata Bhattacharya expressed their anger for not taking any initiative to revive Begum Rokeya’s memory in Rangpur.
“We should not be limited only in observing Begum Rokeya Day on December 9. We want real initiatives to preserve his memory,” they said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's direct intervention is required in this regard to solve all the existing problems. Local residents and prominent people also think so, they said.
