Bangladeshis are going to celebrate Pahela Baishakh at home this year with their most colourful extravaganza constrained by the cruelty of the unprecedented battle to beat back the coronavirus epidemic amid a nationwide lockdown. There will be no Chhayanaut event at Ramna Batamul in Dhaka, neither will there be any Mangal Shobhajatra parade from the Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to ring in the Bengali New Year on Tuesday.

People will roll into the year 1427in the Bengali calendar amid gloom as the number of infections has crossed 800 with 39 deaths in a continued surge.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also urged caution in their messages greeting the nation on the occasion.

“Bangladesh has also been affected by the virus. So, it is our prime duty to save the country and the people from the coronavirus,” Hamid said in a message, noting that thousands of people were being infected and dying across the globe every day.

“It is very much necessary to follow the health and social distancing rules properly,” he said, urging all not to panic.

Hasina said gatherings have been banned considering public health. She urged all to celebrate the occasion at home with seasonal fruits in a televised address to the nation on the eve of Pahela Baishakh.

“Please don’t leave home unless you have a good reason. Follow the health rules. Protect yourselves and your families from coronavirus infection,” the prime minister said.

She also called for a collective resolve, asking all not to be afraid and tackle the situation with courage. “Darkness is engulfing our world because of the coronavirus. We shall overcome this and journey through to a new sunlit day,” she said.

People can tune in to a live stream of events broadcast on all government and private TV stations from 8:30am.

The programmes will also be broadcast on BTV, Chhayanaut’s website and Facebook page. Chhayanaut President Sanjida Khatun will deliver a speech after its programme.    

The organisation’s Executive President Sarwar Ali said, “We hope the vaccine of the disease will be invented in the new year and science will triumph.”

The organisers of Mangal Shobhajatra have only published a poster as the colourful procession, part of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage, symbolising the positive force, has been cancelled.

“A man can be destroyed, but not defeated,” the dark poster quotes Ernest Hemingway in Bangla from “The Old Man and the Sea”.

https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/04/14/coronavirus-combat-cripples-pahela-baishakh-celebrations-in-locked-down-bangladesh