Brahmanbaria college concert row ends with agreement on ‘no obscenity’

A dispute over a concert planned as part of the freshman reception at Brahmanbaria Government College has been resolved following talks between college authorities and leaders of the Qaumi Chhatra Oikya Parishad.

The agreement was reached at a meeting on Saturday night at the residence of Brahmanbaria-3 MP Engineer Khaled Hossain Mahbub Shyamol. A 7–8-member delegation led by Qaumi Chhatra Oikya Parishad leader Abdul Khalek and college representatives attended the meeting.

Under the agreement, the freshman reception and discussion session will be held on the college’s main campus, while the cultural programme will take place at the southern campus. College unit Chhatra Dal president Shahadat Hossain also confirmed that the dispute had been settled through discussion.

However, the Qaumi Chhatra Oikya Parishad later posted on Facebook that no concert would be held on the government college grounds and that only the freshman reception would take place there. The post said other educational and cultural activities, including a tree-planting programme, would continue.

Abdul Khalek said they had discussed their opposition to holding a concert or cultural programme on the college’s main field. Asked about the proposed event at the southern campus, he said they had agreed to allow it on the condition that there would be no obscenity.

MP Shyamol said discussions involving college authorities and madrasa students had led to a compromise, including an agreement on holding a cultural or musical programme.

The dispute has therefore been defused for now, although the two sides gave slightly different accounts of the venue and format of the cultural programme. Both, however, agreed that the event must not contain anything considered obscene.