Mujib Borsho Celebration: March 17 grand rally postponed
Foreign guests may not attend inaugural event
The March 17 grand rally -- the flagship event of Mujib Borsho -- at the National Parade Ground was postponed hours after the first cases of coronavirus were reported in the country yesterday.
The inauguration programme will be held in a scaled-down manner, and foreign guests may not be in attendance.
Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, chief coordinator of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee, made the announcement at the International Mother Language Institute in the capital around 10:45pm.
"We will continue the Mujib Borsho celebration programmes between March 17, 2020, and March 26, 2021. Considering the prevailing situation across the world caused by the coronavirus outbreak, we are going to rearrange the programmes," he told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Gono Bhaban.
"The re-scheduledprogrammes will be declared tomorrow [today] after a meeting of the committee," said Kamal, a former principal secretary to the PM.
He said commemorative notes, stamps and other publications would be unveiled on March 17.
Kamal added that the grand rally would be held later, and when the rally would be held, foreign guests, who were supposed to join the programme, would be invited again.
Asked whether Narendra Modi would arrive, he said he was not sure of it, but the Indian PM, along with other foreign guests, would attend the grand rally when it would be held later.
The committee had planned to arrange a gathering of around two lakh people at the rally, Kamal added.