The Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigosthi on Tuesday began a four-day exhibition at its central office on Topkhana Road in the capital Dhaka after 24 days of an arson attack on its central office.
The arson attack burned the cultural organisation’s office on December 19, 2025, amid protests over the death of Inquilab Mancha convener Sharif Osman Hadi at a hospital in Singapore.
The exhibition is displaying the organisation’s scorched office and damaged and charred musical instruments, books, costumes, stage properties and documents of 57 years of the cultural organisation.
The organisation was publicly threatened by the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and after the arson attack, the interim government did not take any step regarding the issues and the cultural adviser’s silence over the issues created a lot of questions, said Udichi general secretary Jamshed Anwer Tapan.
He also claimed that the ministry excluded Udichi from this year’s annual government grants for cultural organisations.
He also said that after the incident, a case had been filed on behalf of Udichi.
The police and the Fire Service have already collected evidence and completed initial investigations, but they (Udichi) have not heard of any visible progress about the case, Jamshed said.
He made the remarks at a press conference chaired by Udichi acting president Habibul Alam.
Political and cultural activists from different organisations were present in the press conference.
Leaders of Udichi also urged for financial help from cultural activists and organisations to rebuild their office.
At the exhibition, they also recited poems and rendered songs on Tuesday. The show will end on Friday.
