Bangladesh Film Festival in Tripura postponed

The second edition of Bangladesh Film Festival scheduled to be held at Agartala of Indian state Tripua has been postponed following the recent sectarian unrest in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala organised the three-day festival which was scheduled for October 21-23.

Jubayed Hassan, the Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala, said that the festival has been postponed.

Keeping in mind the current situation in Bangladesh and the discontentment among people in Tripura over that, the Bangladesh government has decided to delay the festival until things get better, he told NDTV.

A total of 34 films, mostly on 1971 Liberation War were expected to be screened in the festival at the Rabindra Satabarshiki Auditorium in Indranagar of Agartala.

Raising their voice against the alleged attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, a group of Hindu activists in Agartala have called for boycotting the film festival and warned that if the hosts went ahead with the festival, it would be prevented, reports Times of India. Some people also tore down the festoons and posters of the film festival at different places of Agartala.

Bangladesh has seen a number of sectarian attacks during and after the last Durga Puja. Temples, houses and business establishments Hindus were damaged in several parts of the country including Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali and Rangpur.

On October 13, a ‘mentally-imbalanced‘person placed a copy of the Quran on the idol of Hanuman in the temporary puja mandap near Nanua Dighi of Cumilla. Later, some miscreants carried out provocative and distorted propaganda and tried to vandalise the puja mandap.

Mobs also attacked the Chanmoni Puja Mandapa, Sri Sri Rakshakali Mandir, Kalitala and several other puja mandaps in Kaparia Patti Colony and set fire to idols in Cumilla city.

Protestors met the Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioners in Agartala and Guwahati, and urged them to request their government to ensure action against those who involved in the attacks, Indian media said.