Hasina, Modi visit Bangabandhu Bapu Digital Exhibition

On Friday evening, the first day of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka, he visited the Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition alongside Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.

The exhibition is taking place at the capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

The exhibition, virtually inaugurated by Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi in December last year, celebrates how two leaders born in different times – Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Mahatma Karamchand Gandhi – helped change the destinies of their respective nations.

The exhibition features 21 digital walls, with the "Introduction Wall" representing the various themes of the exhibition.

Key points of interest of the exhibition are a "Meeting Wall" that displays the only photo in the world to have both Bangabandhu and Bapu in one frame, robotic signatures of both the leaders and the favourite music of the leaders.

Historical moments like Mahatma Gandhi's salt march and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's speech of 7 March, 1971 are other noteworthy installations at the exhibition.

The stories of the two inspiring women behind the rise of Gandhi and Bangabandhu have also found a place in the exhibition.

There are over 100 points of digital engagement – such as a holographic time machine that layers historical photos, with a timeline to provide a unique interface for users to reference the time and lives of these leaders.

The pain and suffering endured by Indian and Bangladeshi people during the brutal use of force by General Dyer in Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 and the genocide perpetrated by the Pakistani army in 1971 are also digitally shown in the exhibition.

Further, the "Genocide Tunnel" at the exhibition shows the experiences of Bangladeshis who suffered at the hands of the Pakistani army in 1971 during the Liberation War.

The digital exhibition was initially displayed in New Delhi and then brought to Dhaka. It will subsequently be displayed in different locations in Bangladesh, then at the United Nations and will finally get to Kolkata in early 2022.