Pahela Baishakh
Today we celebrate the first month of the Bengali New Year. Pahela Baishakh, a centuries-old tradition, is as much a part of our cultural identity as well as our national. It is a celebration of colour, folk art, local cuisine and the common heritage of a nation that has survived and thrived on its multiplicity of communities. It unites us beyond our beliefs and politics.
So, it is a sad day when dogmatic views seek to misrepresent an event in the name of belief. Yet, this year too those seeking to make a communal issue out of the celebration are active. A colourful artwork on a wall in Chittagong created as part of Baishakh festivities by students of Institute of Fine Arts of Chittagong University was defaced on Tuesday.
The accusation that celebrations of Baishakh are contradictory to our beliefs clearly speaks of attempts to communalise our nation. It is a blatant disrespect to religions when they are used to create divisions and hostility within a community that has lived and thrived together for hundreds of years. We are worried by such attempts to communalise, and acceding to such attempts for political reasons. Such appeasement of communal concerns cannot bode well for us as a nation or the other communities who call this country their home.
We feel that it is now a duty of our political leaders to take the moral high ground. Pahela Baishakh is an example of how a nation can unite beyond their personal identities. To communalise our cultural traditions forebodes of a time when our history will be discarded and identities will be forged along narrower lines. We urge our readers and our leaders to take time today to appreciate a tradition which revels in overcoming parochial concerns in favour of inclusiveness.
Shubho Nababarsha!
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