A Bangladeshi mystic sect promoting religious tolerance has canceled its popular music festival after Islamist threats, the latest casualty of troubled religious relations since the student-led August revolution.
There has been a wave of protests in Muslim-majority Bangladesh since the ouster of longtime autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, including a surge in Islamist groups emboldened to take to the streets after years of repression.
In the chaotic days immediately following Hasina’s ouster, there were a series of reprisals against Hindus – seen by some as disproportionate supporters of her rule – as well as attacks on Muslim Sufi shrines by Islamic radicals.
Devotees of Lalan Shah, the 17th-century Bengali social reformer whose poignant songs of religious tolerance are deeply influential, organized a two-day festival or “mela” in the town of Narayanganj later this month.
More than 10,000 people attended the event last year and heard musicians promoting the sect’s philosophy – a mix of Hinduism and Sufism rather than a specific religion – which angered some Islamic fundamentalists.
Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mahmudul Haq said city officials did not approve the event due to concerns of potential violence after assessing security risks.
“This area is a hotbed of groups with opposing views,” Mr Haq said.
Festival organizer Shah Jalal said this is the first time that they have had to cancel the event.
Abdul Awal, a committee leader of Hefazat-e-Islam – a coalition of Islamic organizations with significant influence – led a march earlier this month demanding a halt to the festival.
“We cannot allow activities that are contrary to the true spirit of Islam,” Mr Awal said.
“In the name of celebration, they promote indecency with women by dancing, singing, gambling and smoking ganja,” he alleged.
Followers of Lalan, ascetic “Baul” singers who travel on foot from town to town singing and begging for alms, are labeled heretics by some Islamists.
“The cancellation of the Lalon Fair is a bad omen for all of us,” said cultural activist Rafiur Rabbi.
“It is disappointing that the government is bowing to majority pressure. Does this mean that minorities will no longer have a voice?”
But Mostofa Sarwar Faruqi, the interim government’s cultural affairs adviser, said they were doing the best they could.
“The fall of Sheikh Hasina and her flight from the country created a vacuum which led to many incidents, but we managed to regain control,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
