UNB, Dhaka :
Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla New year, is being celebrated with great enthusiasm and in a universal festive mood on Friday.
The celebration started with Mangal Shobhajatra, headed by DU Vice Chancellor Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman at 9:00 am.
The rally was brought out from the Fine Arts faculty of the university and moved around the campus.
State Minister for Culture KM Khalid participated in the procession.
“Bengali New Year 1430 has appeared with a message of hope and success. Mangal Shobhajatra is our cultural heritage. It is listed in the UNESCO heritage list too. Our struggle for freedom started through cultural movement,” said the VC.
He said, “The procession is a cultural tradition of the Bengalees. Now it belongs to thr World Heritage. Thus, this cultural heritage belongs to the international community too.”
“It is a great resource for every person in the world. It is our collective responsibility of all to maintain, preserve and spread it among all. And it reflects inclusive vision and philosophy,” he said.
“It is a humanitarian and non-sectarian call against all forms of extremism,” he added.
The two main motifs in this year’s rally are child in the mother’s lap and blue bull (Nilgai). As the child is safe in the mother’s arms there is symbolically the message of global peace. Apart from this, Nilgai has been kept as a symbol of endangered and lost animals. Apart from this, four other motifs have been displayed in the procession. They are tiger, peacock, sheep and deer.
Personnel from special security forces ensured the security of Mangal Shovazatra by providing end-to-end protocol to the rally.
“You know there have been threats, a lawyer has even filed a case in the High Court to stop the Mangal Shobhajatra. From that point of view, we took every possible measure to ensure the safety,” said state minister Khalid.
Though the students of the fine arts faculty prepared the festive masks of owls for the Pahela Baishakh celebration, the masks were prohibited to use due to security reasons.
To ensure security, movement of all kinds of vehicles except stickered vehicles of DU have been restricted in the campus area.
The Suhrawardy Udyan gate near TSC will also be locked till the evening of the first day of Bangla New Year but the gate near Ramana Kali mandir, Bangla Academy, Engineering Institute and Chobir hat gate of Suhrawardy Udyan Will be open for the visitors.
Visitors can only enter the campus till 5 pm today then the area will be locked and no one can enter the campus after the specified time but they can exit.