Bauls unite for culture

Bauls perform at a programme demanding a free atmosphere for the arts. Photo: STAR

Cultural activists of Sylhet organised a session of Baul songs at the city's Central Shahid Minar at Chouhatta area, on Friday. Their aim was to protest the removal of the sculpture near Zia International Airport and to press for its immediate re-installation. A human chain was also taken out in front of the central Shahid Minar in the afternoon.
Poet Tushar Kar, Dr. Abul Fateh Fattah, Poet Shuvendu Imam and Press club Vice-President Al-Azad spoke on the occasion before a crowd of thousands of people.
The speakers called for resistance against communalism. They also demanded a free atmosphere for the arts. Their protest, they added, would continue till the Lalon sculpture was re-installed.
Bauls like Ranesh Thakur, Mitali Chakravarty, Baul Siraj Udin, Md. Shahab Uddin, Mamatamoyi Dass, Fatema Tuj Mukta, Zoerima, Kamal Uddin Russel, Sumi and Dulal Sarker presented Baul songs in addition to those by members of Baul Kalyan Samity, Sylhet, and Bhati Bangla Baul Academy O Gobeshana Kendra.
Nabashikha Theatre staged a play titled “Team”. At the concluding session the speakers included principal Golam Hossain Azad; cultural activists Nazmul Haque, Sumon Kumar Das, Pranab Kanti Dev and Prantik Parshad President Ujjal Roy, among others.
Earlier, the Sylhet unit of Udichi Shilpi Goshthi organised a meeting to protest the removal of the sculpture. Unit chief Barrister Arosh Ali chaired the meeting where the speakers included Brojo Gopal Chowdhury, Sumita Dutta, Arun Kumar Sarker and Abhijit Das Jam.
The speakers pointed out that Lalon remains a major source of inspiration for non communal forces in the region. The nation, they added, will have to uphold his spirit to ensure peace in the country.