Monument on Santal movements
Achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is not possible if some sections of the people, including the ethnic minority communities, lag behind, said Dr Gowher Rizvi, international affairs adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He was addressing as chief guest at a rally after unveiling a sculpture commemorating the Santal Revolution and Tevaga Movement near the historic Kantajew temple in Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur yesterday.
Santal community played significant roles in different movements like the Santal Revolution during the British colonial rule, Tevaga Movement as well as the 1971 Liberation War. But we could not do much for their advancement,” he said.
“It is a sorrow that the demands of the ethnic communities including the Santals have not been fully realised. I will talk with the prime minster about forming of separate land commission for the ethnic minorities living on plain lands,” Dr Gowher Rizvi said.
He also pledged to set up an export processing zone in Kaharol upazila.
Describing various development programmes of the government, Rizvi said the upcoming election is an opportunity for the nation to re-elect the present government for continuous development in the country.
Addressing the rally, Rabindranath Soren, president of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad (JAP), said the people of his community bravely fought during the Liberation War, often with their traditional bows and arrows, but they are still lagging behind in various sectors.
“We suddenly learnt that the people indigenous communities in the country have got much advancement,” he said, referring to the proposal for scrapping quota in government jobs.
He urged the government to keep job quota for the much backward indigenous communities.
Monoranjan Shill Gopal, lawmaker from Dinajpur-1, Nazmul Haque Prodhan, lawmaker from Panchagarh-1, Ushatan Talukdar, lawmaker from Rangamati, Prof Dr Mesbah Kamal of Dhaka University, Nurul Islam, additional secretary of Home Ministry, Shishir Shill, secretary general of all party parliamentary group, Dr Abu Nayeem Muhammad Abdus Sabur, deputy commissioner of Dinajpur, and Syed Abu Sayeem, superintendent of police, addressed the rally chaired by Azizul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of Dinajpur Zila Parishad.
Prodyot Das is the sculptor of the monument commemorating the Santal Revolution and Tevaga Movement. Large portraits of Ila Mitra, Hajee Mohammad Danesh, Gurudash Talukdar and Khoka Baish are also set there.
Clad in their traditional clothes, indigenous people from different districts joined the programme.
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