AMN/ WEB DESK
The 122 birth anniversary of the national poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul Islam was celebrated in Bangladesh on Tuesday. No outdoor programmes were organised in view of the ongoing lockdown due to the COVID 19 pandemic in the country.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs K M Khalid placed a wreath at the grave of the poet in the morning in the Dhaka University area. Several eminent personalities, scholars and cultural activists including Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Md. Akhataruzzaman among others placed wreaths at the grave of the poet.
Television Channels organised special programmes to mark the occasion.
President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also paid homage to the poet in their messages on the occasion of his birth anniversary.
The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) of the High Commission of India in Dhaka organised an online tribute to the great poet with songs and recitations by some of the eminent Nazrul exponents of the country.
Known as ‘Bidrohi Kobi’ or rebel poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam’s repertoire known as Nazrul Geeti or Nazrul Sangeet is huge. He wrote on a variety of themes. His poems are deeply imbued with a sense of humanism, justice and rebellion against oppression. It was a source of inspiration during the liberation war of Bangladesh.
Kazi Nazrul Islam was born on 24 May 1899 in Churulia in Paschim Bardhman district of West Bengal.
At the time of Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 poet Nazrul was staying in Kolkata. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman brought him to Dhaka with state honours.