The National Citizen Party (NCP) welcomed the Bengali New Year 1433 with a colourful procession, a fair, and a cultural programme in the capital on Tuesday.
The procession, organised by the NCP’s Cultural Cell, began from Navy Gali in Banglamotor at 3:40pm, moved along the main road in front of Hotel Intercontinental, turned at Rajshik Mor, and ended back at the starting point.
NCP leaders and activists, dressed in colourful Baishakhi attire, walked to the rhythm of drums, conveying a message of harmony. Many carried placards with slogans calling for unity, love, and the erasure of division.
A Baishakhi fair featuring a bioscope, clay utensil shops, and food stalls selling phuchka and other items began at Navy Goli before 3:00 pm.
After the procession, a cultural programme began around 4:30 pm. NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan inaugurated the programme, extending New Year greetings and pledging to establish justice and build a beautiful state.
NCP Convener and Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam, Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari, and Northern Region Chief Organiser Sarjis Alam later joined the programme, sitting in the audience to enjoy performances by artists including Ashik and his team and Baul Kajal Dewan.
Leaders later toured the fair stalls, eating traditional snacks and playfully feeding each other.
Speaking to journalists, Nahid Islam said the ruling BNP government should clear all outstanding dues of national life, just as all debts are cleared when Halkhata is opened on Pahela Baishakh.
“That outstanding due is the July Charter. The government has opened the Halkhata of the new year without clearing the reform dues. Reforms must be implemented soon according to the referendum verdict,” he said.
He accused the government of betraying the people by repealing important ordinances issued by the interim government and expressed hope that they would bring them back as bills and turn them into laws soon.
“We want a new Bangladesh. Our young generation has shed blood and sacrificed their lives for a new country,” Nahid Islam said, remembering martyr Osman Hadi.
“Our pledge today is that in this new year, we will clear that outstanding due,” he added.
