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Chittagong jives with festivity

The Daily Star launches 12-day festival to showcase history, culture and prospects of Ctg

Staff Correspondent, ctg
The 12-day Odommo Chattagram festival, an initiative of The Daily Star, began yesterday with a gala inauguration ceremony and huge enthusiasm and expectation.
Distinguished personal-
ities of the port city led by anti-British revolutionary Binod Bihari Chowdhury formally announced the inauguration of the festival amid cheerful applause from around 10,000 people at MA Aziz Stadium of Chittagong.
A spectacular fire-work display followed by a laser show on the backdrop of the night's sky right after the formal inauguration enchanted the audience. Sky lanterns were also released to add glitter to the event.
Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, along with all the distinguished guests took oath on the stage to develop Chittagong with a view to devel-
oping the country.
They vowed: "Let us know Chittagong and the whole country. Let us love Chittagong and the country. Come, learn about the thousand years' rich history of Chittagong. This will inspire us for a prosperous future. The devel-
opment of Chittagong means the development of the country. Let us make Chittagong more prosperous, thus the country will prosper."
The guests vowed on the stage include former adviser to a caretaker government Rokia Afzal Rahman; former Chittagong city mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury; president of BNP city unit Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury; eminent scientist Prof Jamal Nazrul Islam; Vice-chancellor of Chittagong University Prof Anwarul Azim Arif; editor of local daily Dainik Azadi MA Malek; editor of Dainik Purbokon Taslim Uddin Chowdhury;
former president of Bangladesh Economic Association (Ctg chapter) Prof Sikander Khan; former chief secretary to the prime minister Abdul Karim; and Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee leader Mustari Shafi.
Representatives of the partners of the festival Syed Tahmeed Azizul Huq, head of corporate communications of Grameenphone; Ali Hussain AkberAli, chairman of BSRM Group; Abul Bashar, chairman of BSM Group; Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, director of UCBL; Tariq Ahmed, director (operations) of TK Group; Tanvir Ahmed of Pacific Jeans; KhurshidAlam of RB Industries; BGMEA First Vice-President Nasir Uddin Chowdhury; Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCCI) President Morshed Murad Ibrahim; its Senior Vice President Mahbubul Alam; Managing Director of Western Marine Shipyard Shakhawat Hossain; and Trustee Secretary of AK Khan Foundation Salauddin Kashem Khan also took the oath on stage.
Binod Bihari, the 103-years-old living legend, with his inspiring voice urged the audience to love the country keeping all sorts of divisions aside. He hoped the festival would help revive the glorious past of Chittagong and make the young generation proud.
Chittagong City Corporation Mayor M Manjur Alam thanked The Daily Star for taking such wonderful initiative of highlighting the history, culture and other distinctive features of Chittagong.
In his speech, Mahfuz Anam said The Daily Star had initiated the festival to project the indomitable spirit of Chittagong.
“We love our country, but many of us do not know the exact history of its different areas. Dhaka has a history of 400 years. But it is nice to hear that Chittagong has a rich history of more than 1,400 years," he said.
The festival would showcase Chittagong's golden history of revolution against the British colonial rule, successful trade, and to-be-proud-about socio-political role as well as immense prospect of a bright future, added Mahfuz Anam.
He said The Daily Star would continue to take such initiatives to solve problems of the port city.
People of all strata of life
thronged MA Aziz Stadium since 3:00pm. By 6:00pm the venue was full to the brim. The audience enjoyed the evening in remarkable discipline and with a cheerful heart.
The function started at 5:00 pm with songs of local band Sustain. Close-up singer Orin came on the stage at 5:30pm with a few musical pieces. Popular model Nobel also made the crowd excited. His address to the audience in local dialect delighted all.
Tiny tots of Sahajpath Fulki sang the national anthem. The students of Fulki also performed a patriotic song accompanied by their peer dancers.
Local singer Kishore performed a few songs followed by a song by folk singer Abdul Gafur Hali and his group. Another folk singer Sirajul Islam Azad also performed his popular local song 'Headmastor TuaareToaiee'.
Popular musical bands LRB and Renaissance and soloist Arnob enthralled the audience with their performances.
The cultural programme ended at 9:30pm.