The Satyen Sen Shilpi Gosthi could not organise the Sharat Utsab 1432 in Old Dhaka’s Gendaria this year, following police restrictions.
The festival was originally scheduled for Friday morning at Bakultala, Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University. However, “objections from many quarters” led authorities to block the event.
At the last moment, citing fears of “potential disturbances,” the Fine Arts administration cancelled the venue allocation, making it impossible to hold the festival there.
The organisers then announced plans to stage the festival simultaneously at the Gendaria children’s fairground. However, the police intervened, citing the lack of prior permission, and shut down the event.
Manzar Chowdhury Sweet, general secretary of the Satyen Sen Shilpi Gosthi, said the disruption ended a 19-year continuous tradition of organising the festival.
“We have held this festival at Bakultala for 19 years. Except during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has never been cancelled. This year, we could not hold it,” he said.
Despite the setback, the organisers marked the occasion with the national anthem, children’s art activities, and a minute of silence in memory of the late singer Farida Parveen.
When contacted, Mohammad Harun Ur Rashid, Deputy Police Commissioner (Wari Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the reporters, “No prior permission was obtained to hold the Sharat Utsab in Gendaria.”
Sweet added, “We had obtained police permission to hold the festival at Bakultala and paid the Fine Arts administration Tk 26,000 for venue allocation. Yet, the night before the event, our venue allocation was cancelled without explanation.
‘‘Unable to hold it there, we tried to move the festival to Gendaria, where the police again shut it down.”
