DHAKA – Bangladesh has issued new currency notes featuring redesigned imagery, removing the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding father and father of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, from its currency.
The new series of notes, released on Sunday, replaced the human portraits with images of natural landscapes and historic sites. So far, denominations of 20, 50, and 1000 taka have been introduced with the updated designs.
The move comes amid political turmoil in Bangladesh.
Following violent protests and hundreds of casualties on August 5 last year, Sheikh Hasina Wajed resigned as a prime minister and fled to India.
Currently, a caretaker government is managing the affairs of the nation, which has a population of approximately 170 million.
A spokesperson from the central bank confirmed that the new notes will be rolled out gradually across various denominations while older notes and coins will remain valid and continue to circulate.
This is not the first time Bangladesh has altered its currency designs. When the country was renamed from East Pakistan to Bangladesh in 1972, the initial notes featured the country’s map. Later, during the rule of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League government, his portraits were printed on the currency.
During the tenure of other political parties, particularly the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, images of historical and archaeological sites were added to the currency notes alongside human portraits.
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