Govt working to save rural cultural heritage: Minister

RANGPUR, June 14 (BSS): The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working to save the rural cultural heritage which has almost disappeared due to the intervention of the fundamentalists.
"In the light of instructions of the Prime Minister, we are working to revive extinct cultural heritage and tradition of thousands of years and develop and spread of literary culture," State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid said on Wednesday.
The state minister said this while addressing a discussion at the District Shilpakala Academy (DSA) auditorium after the inaugural ceremony of a two-day Divisional Literature Fair-2023 as the chief guest.
Earlier, he inaugurated the literature fair by releasing a colorful balloon with a festoon.
The fair is being organised under a joint initiative of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangla Academy and Divisional Commissioner's Office with the aim of highlighting the works of grassroots writers at the national level.
With Divisional Commissioner Md Habibur Rahman in the chair, Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Khalil Ahmad, Director General of Bangla Academy poet Mohammad Nurul Huda and Deputy Commissioner Dr Chitralekha Nazneen addressed the discussion as special guests.
The state minister said, "Due to the intervention of the fundamentalists, our cultural heritage of thousands of years, like 'Jaari', 'Saari, 'Palagan', Yatra, 'Grameen Mela' and other folk cultural activities areabout to vanish."
The present government is working to revive the lost rural culture of Bengal for flourishing native culture to resist militancy. From that effort, the divisional literature fair is being organised.
"Ekushey Book Fair is being held in Dhaka. We have organised book fairs and literature fairs in 64 districts. Now it is going on at the divisional level, later it will be in Dhaka," he said.
"We want to present our rich rural culture and tradition to the younger generation who do not know many traditions of their forefathers' time. We want to let them know. We want to feel and understand the tradition of rural Bengal among them," he said.
"The Ministry of Culture has started working again from that effort. We want to support those involved in literary culture and with this movement. We all want to go back to the extinct rural culture and tradition of Bengal," Khalid said.