Bengal civil society group opposes invitation to Bangladeshi singer for Madhyamgram festival

Kolkata: Amidst growing outrage over recent attacks on Hindus and the desecration of the Indian flag in Bangladesh, members of a civil society organisation on Wednesday voiced their protest over inviting popular Bangladeshi Rabindrasangeet singer, Rezwana Choudhury Banya, to perform at a cultural festival at Madhyamgram in the northern suburbs of Kolkata.

The Madhyamgram Nagarik Samaj, which has around 80,000 members, appealed to the organisers of the Paribesh Mela to cancel Banya’s performance scheduled for December 28.

In a Facebook post, the group said, "As Indian citizens, we appeal to the organisers of the event at Madhyamgram municipality to cancel the performance of Rezwana Choudhury Banya immediately. Please do not allow any artistes from Bangladesh to perform. Shouldn't the country's honour come before everything else? Please think about the issue."

Rupak Dey, a member of the Samaj, said, "No Bangladeshi artistes have come forward to register their protest against the continuing attacks on minorities in their country, nor did they say anything about the desecration of our tricolour by higher education institutions in Bangladesh." He added, "For us, patriotism precedes everything else. We are not okay with the performance of any Bangladeshi singer at this juncture." In response, the chairman of Madhyamgram municipality, Nimai Ghosh, clarified that "the list of performing artists has not been finalised yet” and emphasized, “We do not believe in dividing singers based on nationality. This has never been the tradition of our state.”

Ghosh also pointed out that no formal complaints had been lodged with the municipality regarding the issue.