Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon has ordered the removal of his pictures from offices, public places and roads. However, the order concerns only those pictures where Emomali Rahmon is portrayed with representatives of local authorities. As the President’s Press service announced, “The President ordered to remove pictures and carpets which portray the President of the Republic of Tajikistan together with heads of local administrations from offices, public places and roads, with the aim to prevent servility and misunderstanding from the population”.

This initiative is not unique. Emomali Rahmon has repeatedly requested his bureaucracy to refrain from ostentatious praising of the President. This order is already the third one aimed at preventing servility and a personality cult. Previous orders of the President to remove his pictures from public places were given in 2001 and 2002. This year, the President went even further and ordered “to remove all signs of gratitude towards heads of cities and districts placed on historical monuments, memorials and mausoleums”. Moreover, local authorities were instructed “henceforth, to coordinate any placement of Emomali Rahmon’s portraits in public places with the Executive Office of the President”.

The efforts of the President to struggle against servility and personality cult seem unusual, as images glorifying national leaders are common in the Central Asian region. Thus, the practice of a personality cult is common among the leaders of the region. For instance, the late ruler of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, was famous for declaring himself “The father of all Turkmen” and building a golden monument for himself. The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has two museums in his honor. The same can be said about Tajikistan where images of Emomali Rahmon can be found in every office, public place and even along the roads. For instance, there are seven huge banners with the President’s portrait in the small central street of Khujand city. Furthermore, no criticism may be expressed about the President in media sources, and state officials refer to him and address him only as ‘esteemed’. Therefore, this ‘modesty’ initiative of the President raises questions about its true intentions, as it may seem unlikely that he indeed aims to struggle against the personality cult.

Some experts claim that this denouncing of the personality cult is yet another way to increase the President’s popularity. Others say that there is nothing unusual in the President’s new initiative, since Emomali Rahmon is famous for his eccentric initiatives. For instance, he prohibited pupils and students from using mobile phones in school and to come to school or University by car. He prohibited school-leaving and graduation parties and introduced restrictions on pompous wedding and funeral ceremonies. Finally, he proposed that authorities sell their cars and deposit the money into building hydro-power stations.

However, most experts argue that the President simply does not want to share his fame with local authorities. The issue is that local leaders try to increase their popularity by placing huge banners portraying Emomali Rahmon with themselves in their districts exactly because the President enjoys the support of the wider public. In this way, local leaders try to accentuate their closeness to the head of state in the eyes of the population, as well as in the eyes of other authorities. Sometimes, however, such behavior of local officials is explained by simple servility. The officials naively believe that they can please the President by placing more pictures featuring him. Political expert Parviz Mullojanov supports the idea that the President’s new initiative is an effective method to eliminate the ‘new fashion’ of displaying local officials with Emomali Rahmon. He argues that the “new initiative is the only way to overcome the rapidly growing servility”.

Even though the President’s order to remove his portraits from public places and offices may be an appropriate measure to prevent the development of a personality cult in Tajikistan, it surprisingly does not touch upon the removal, or at least reduction, of most of the President’s pictures. A great number of those are placed in public buildings and along the roads. Thus, the President’s order targets only the pictures of Rahmon where he is portrayed together with other officials. Hence in one sense, the initiative may not be a struggle against the personality cult but quite the opposite, the President’s struggle to secure a fame that he is not willing to share with others. The order, therefore, illustrates how in times of severe economic crisis, increased corruption, high unemployment and other economic and social problems that the citizens of Tajikistan face, the President is concerned about attempts of the local authorities to sneak into his fame and use his face to gain power.