A traditional 200-year-old ‘Gazi Kalu-Champabati’ fair at Jagannathpur union under Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia remained suspended since activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami clashed on May 20 over organising the fair.
Jamaat activists allegedly opposed organising the fair while the BNP wanted to hold the fair.
The local administration said that the fair began although authorities did not give permission to organise it considering security concerns.
After local people organised the fair on May 17, activists of the Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party clashed on May 20 at the fair over organising it, said Jagannathpur union parishad Ward 4 member Md Faruk Pramanik.
Jamaat and its affiliated organisations demanded the fair be cancelled permanently for alleged indecent activities and gambling at the fair but activists of the BNP and local people organised the fair, added Faruk.
‘The fair was closed after the clash and at least 11 people were injured in the clash,’ Kumarkhali police officer-in-charge Md Solaiman Sheikh said, adding that no case was filed after the clash as the two groups settled the issue through discussion.Â
Gazi Kalu-Champabati, a traditional weeklong fair organised every year by the villagers, was not permitted this year due to security concerns, said Kushtia deputy commissioner Md Toufikur Rahman.
‘When we received the application for permission for this traditional fair, we investigated the fair and found security concerns so we did not allow local people to organise the fair,’ Md Toufikur Rahman said, adding that no open-air fair was permitted since November due to security concerns in the district.
Grouping, clashes and political unrest created security concerns at these cultural and social events, said Md Toufikur.
The suspension of the fair is not an isolated incident. Scores of traditional fairs and Urs have been suspended or cancelled over the past few months for alleged threats from Islamists.