Kolkata’s Damnatio memoriae moment

Almost 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome, after an emperor was removed unceremoniously, busts, statues, and portraits of the ruler were destroyed. Called damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory), it was the ancient Roman equivalent of cancel culture. The practice of damnatio memoriae was used by the Senate to officially erase a disgraced or deposed emperor from history.In the last century and the present one, following the fall of communist regimes, the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, and the change of government led by Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh in 2024, statues representing the fallen rulers were pulled down.On June 1, 2026, as 35 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs were being administered the oath of office as Ministers at Lok Bhawan in Kolkata, a 70-foot statue of…

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