Hason Raja “Loko Utshob” begins

Hason Raja was a poet, mystic philosopher and folk-song writer and composer. To commemorate Raja, “Loko Utshob” began on the Jubilee High School field at town in Sunamganj yesterday. The birthplace of the great poet wears a colourful look for the weeklong festival, the largest of its kind in the south-western region.
Journalists Emdadul Haque Milon and Nayeem Nizam inaugurated the festival.
Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu; Mohsin Ali, Social Welfare Minister; Prime Minister's Information Adviser Iqbal Subhan Chowdhury; State Minister, Finance M A Mannan and other local administration high-ups are the guests set to attend over the three days. Hason Raja Parishad is organising the festival.
This year, the festival is on a larger scale with various programmes, including discussions on the life, literature and works of Hason Raja, cultural programmes and theatre. Different stalls of traditional products, handicrafts and agricultural products have been set up. Other attractions are jatra, magic shows and circus.
Hason was born on December 21, 1854 in Bishwanath village, (now Sunamganj). He was the son of Dewan Ali Raja, a direct descendant of Birendraram Singhdev. He spent most of his childhood in Sunamganj with his mother, Hurmuth Jahan Bibi. At the age of seven, his father started living in Rampasa of Lokkishiri, 33 miles away from Sunamganj. Ali supervised and managed his paternal estates.