Chaos at JU over allegations of hurting religious sentiments during pala gaan performance

A chaos broke out at Jahangirnagar University (JU) during a musical pala gaan performance at the university’s Heem Utshob (winter festival) following allegations that religious sentiments had been hurt.

The incident took place on Friday night at the university’s Chhobi Chattar. Later, at around 2:00 am, a group of students staged a sit-in protest in front of Vice-Chancellor Professor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan’s residence.

Speaking to students present at the scene, it was learnt that artiste Eshaq Sarkar went on stage to perform pala gaan at Chhobi Chattar. At one point during the performance, a student at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Fazle Rabbi, objected to one of the artiste’s remarks.

Fazle Rabbi went up on stage, took the microphone, and voiced his protest. This led to commotion at the venue. Other students then removed Fazle Rabbi from the stage, and a heated argument ensued between the organisers and the students.

Despite the incident, the programme continued peacefully. However, a group of students later gathered near the University Shaheed Minar and continued protesting, chanting various slogans alleging religious disrespect.

At around 2:00 am, a group of students took up a position in front of the vice-chancellor’s residence. The vice-chancellor assured them that action would be taken based on the proctorial team’s preliminary report, after which the protesting students dispersed.

Assistant Proctor Professor Abdur Razzak said, “There was an issue at the beginning related to Surah An-Nas. Following that, a student went to the stage to speak, alleging that religious sentiments were being hurt, and the organisers removed him from there.”

“Later, some general students became agitated over the matter. We calmed them down. The students actually protested, from what they felt was a moral standpoint. We pacified them and they left. However, many of the organisers have said that the artiste apologised after the incident,” added the assistant proctor.