A FAIR, Gazi Kalu-Champabati Mela, having been held for about two hundred years, at Jagannathpur of Kumarkhali in Kushtia has remained suspended since May 20 after it began on May 17. A clash between the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which wanted a permanent end to the holding of the fair, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which wanted the fair to continue, has been at the heart of the problem. The district administration has said that the fair began without permission, not given in view of security concern, noting that no open-air fair has been allowed since November on security grounds. A Lalon festival, Lalon Smaran Utsab 2025 that Madhupur Lalon Sangha was planned to begin at Madhupur in Tangail on February 12 marking the death of Lalon Fakir, could not be held as Hefazat-e-Islam raised objection to the holding of the fair, reportedly noting that Lalon鈥檚 ideology is impermissible although the organisers had obtained permission and said no discussions on Lalon鈥檚 ideology would be held. The district administration of Narayanganj denied Muktidham Ashram and Lalon Academy of Kashipur permission to finally hold the two-day annual Lalon fair, scheduled to begin on November 22, 2024, amidst threats from an Islamist group.
The local administration in Madaripur stopped Kundubarir Mela, an annual fair reported to have been held for more than 250 years, over objections by some local people, said to be linked with Islami Andolan. Amidst the objections, the Kalkini municipality and the upazila administration at a meeting on October 24, 2024, decided to stop the holding of the fair, the preparations for which had already been completed by then. The cancellation of and restrictions on a number of such fairs and festivals, especially after the August 2024 political changeover, suggest that these are in no way isolated events. Because, almost all of them have been stopped, postponed or suspended reportedly amidst or in the wake of threats, mostly, from Islamist groups. Because, the cancellation of a series of such events weaves a pattern of right-wing groups having reared their head whilst the holding of such events has largely faced no trouble in the past. Some of the events have been held for more than a century. Whilst the Islamist groups have reared the head after the latest political changeover, the government appears to have been not stringent enough to decisively stop such events.
The government has, in some incidents, lifted a finger, but it has not been high enough to deterrentlty stop the threats of the Islamist groups. It is time the government showed the will and stopped the menace that keeps plaguing the holding of such traditional fairs and festivals.
