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Published on November 26, 2025
For the second year in a row, Bangladesh will observe Victory Day without its iconic parade. December 16, once a day of national pride, will pass with empty streets: no marching soldiers, no salutes, no public celebration of our hard-won independence.
No security threat over Victory Day, no parade this year either
This isn’t a routine administrative choice. It fits into a deeply troubling pattern under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government, which appears increasingly determined to rewrite or erase the history of the 1971 Liberation War. From cancelling national holidays linked to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to removing his portraits from public spaces, the regime’s decisions are eroding the very symbols that remind the country of its origins.
Cancelling this year’s parade isn’t just about silence on the streets. It signals a deliberate sidelining of national memory, an attempt to weaken the emotional connection to our independence, our pride, and the heroes who secured our freedom. Sometimes, silence is not neutrality; it is erasure.
Since Muhammad Yunus’s interim government assumed power after the 2024 student uprising, the erasure of Bangladesh’s Liberation War legacy has been systematic and relentless. Key national holidays that once united the country in remembrance and pride have been cancelled or stripped of official recognition. Among them are March 7, the day of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech; March 17, his birthday; August 15, National Mourning Day for his assassination; and November 4, Constitution Day. Each cancellation chips away at the rituals that define Bangladesh’s national identity.
Bangladesh cancels key national days linked to Liberation War and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
The assault has not stopped during the holidays. Symbols of the nation’s founding are under attack. Portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman have been removed from government offices and even currency notes, erasing his presence from the everyday lives of citizens. Statues and murals commemorating the Liberation War have been defaced, destroyed, or abandoned, leaving public spaces stripped of memory and meaning.
Legal and institutional changes further reinforce this deliberate rewriting of history. The government has redefined who qualifies as a freedom fighter, diminishing the status of genuine veterans, while controversially removing the title “Father of the Nation” from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. These are not minor bureaucratic tweaks; they are intentional moves to dilute the legacy of the Liberation War and undermine the country’s founding narrative.
Mural of Liberation War Hidden After Being Deemed ‘Inconsistent With July Revolution Ideals '
The message is clear: under Yunus, Bangladesh’s history is being reshaped to fit a new, sanitized narrative, one that sidelines its heroes, erases its symbols, and ignores the sacrifices that made independence possible.
When Muhammad Yunus spoke of hitting a “reset button,” he tried to make it sound like a benign anti-corruption move. But the reality tells a very different story. Cancelling the Victory Day parade again, scrapping Liberation War–linked holidays, and erasing national symbols are not neutral administrative choices; they are deliberate acts of historical erasure.
The pattern is unmistakable. These moves mirror the old Pakistani strategy: weaken national memory, downplay 1971, and strip away the rituals that define Bangladesh’s independence. And it’s no accident that Yunus is backed by Islamist groups and pro-Pakistan forces, many with ties to war criminals who opposed Bangladesh’s freedom. For them, diminishing the Liberation War is not just convenient; it is a deliberate ideological mission.
This “reset button” is a smokescreen. It is not about reform; it is about rewriting the nation’s story, sidelining our heroes, and empowering those who never accepted Bangladesh’s independence. The government may claim neutrality, but the public can clearly see its true intent.
The Victory Day parade is not just a show of uniforms and flags; it is one of the country’s most powerful reminders of who we are. It celebrates a hard-won military victory, honors the men and women who fought and died, and keeps the story of 1971 alive for every new generation. This is the day when the nation stands together to acknowledge its courage, sacrifice, and identity.
So when the parade is cancelled, again, something far deeper is being undermined. A government that repeatedly scraps this event isn’t just halting a ceremony; it’s disrupting a national ritual that binds the country to its history. It weakens the connection younger Bangladeshis have to the Liberation War, making 1971 feel distant, optional, or irrelevant.
And that is exactly why it matters. Removing the parade strips away one of the last remaining public affirmations of our independence and the struggle that defined us. It is an erasure not done on paper but in the hearts of the people, slowly, deliberately, and dangerously.
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