chtnews.com
News No. 86/2010, April 07, 2010
The government is trying to force the Jumma people to celebrate Boisabi festival in Chittagong Hill Tracts due on 12, 13 and 14 April.
All the socio-cultural organisations and the front organisations of the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) have called for the boycott of the festival, the most important traditional festival of the Jumma people in CHT, in protest against communal attacks in Sajek and Khagrachari.
The Deputy Commissioner of Khagrachari Mohammad Abdullah, who is primarily responsible for the 23 February attack on Jumma localities in Khagrachari, is reportedly ordered all the UNOs in his district to make sure that the town areas look festive mood during Boisabi.
Earlier, he had ordered the police to tear off all the posters put up jointly by Sajek Nari Samaj, Sajek Land Protection Committee and UPDF affiliated organisations calling for a general boycott of the festival.
One Jumma resident in Mahajonpara, while commenting on DC’s action, said, “We have every right to abstain from celebrating Bizu.” Bizu is the Chakma word for the festival.
Accusing the Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdullah of being communal-minded and biased against the Jumma people, he further said, “They have burnt down our houses and now they want that we indulge in merry-making so that they can show to the whole world that everything is fine in CHT. No, we are not going to do that.”
“We are not going to celebrate Bizu. It is a kind of protest and it is useful.” he added.
A teacher of Khagrachari Collegiate School said, “The DC is trying to force us to celebrate Boisabi. But after an attack of such magnitude, how can we celebrate? The DC’s action reminds me of a poem by Nobel Laureate Rabidranath Tagore. The title of the poem is Juta Abiskar (Invention of Shoes). One of the lines of this famous poem is “Kandte keu parbenako jotoi moruk shokay” (No one shall be permitted to cry even if he/she dies of grief). Like Hobuchandra, the king in the poem who bans his subject from crying, the Deputy Commissioner of Khagrachari orders us to celebrate Bizu even though grief seized the Jumma community after the Sajek and Khagrachari attacks.”
He said some people in Rangamati want to celebrate Boisabi not because they are anxious for the “tradition” of the Jumma people, but because they want to inflate their pockets with money taken from the District Council for the purpose of celebrating the festival.
“The utterance of tradition is a garb to conceal their real intention.” he said adding “the real tradition and the spirit of Boisabi is unity, solidarity and fraternity.”
“How can we indulge in merry-making while our own brethrens are being attacked and killed and their houses are being burnt down?”
This is not the time to celebrate, it’s time to protest; it’s time to use our tradition as a powerful weapon to fight against injustices being meted out to us, he said.
“Once the Hindu community in Bangladesh abstained from celebrating Durga Puja in protest against attacks on their community, and it put enormous pressure on the then BNP government.” Mithun Chakma, leader of Democratic Youth Forum, recalled.
“Why the government wants us to celebrate Boisabi? It is because the government fears that if the whole Jumma people abstain from celebrating the festival, it will send a strong message to the international community. It makes a dent in the image of the government.” he said.
This is the reason why the government gives money to its collaborators to celebrate Boisabi, he further said.
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