By IANS,
Dhaka : Bangladesh plans to have the portrait of its founding father, slain former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on all currency notes, its finance minister said Sunday.
The minister, A.M.A. Muhith, told parliament that the government has planned to introduce all currencies inscribed with portraits of the man who is revered as Bangabandhu.
His daughter, Sheikh Hasina, is currently the prime minister.
“Currencies of all denominations – from taka five to taka 1,000 and coins from taka one to taka two – will have the images of Bangabandhu,” Muhith was quoted by Star Online as saying in parliament.
His portraits adorned taka, the currency the country switched to after separating from Pakistan in 1971.
Mujib was slain along with most of his family members in a military putsch on August 14, 1975.
The government Sunday also decided to close down three galleries in Dhaka Museum to recast its exhibits in a manner that would give Mujib his “due place in the country’s history”, an official said.
The existing exhibits have sought to give him a status “parallel” to that of Gen. Ziaur Rahman, another slain president, with regard to declaration of the country’s Independence.
Hasina and Khaleda Zia, Ziaur Rahman’s widow, represent the two opposing political legacies and the projection of Mujib and Ziaur Rahman has depended upon which of the two women leaders is ruling the country.