Dhaka, Bangladesh – On Monday, Bangladesh marked its first Bengali New Year, also known as Pahela Baishakh, since a student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
But the renaming of an iconic parade, which has been held on the occasion for decades, has led to a debate online and offline, highlighting a political and cultural division within the South Asian nation.
Days before the procession, Dhaka University’s fine arts faculty, which organises the annual event, announced that the parade, known so far as Mangal Shobhajatra (Auspicious Parade), would be renamed Borshoboron Ananda Shobhajatra (Joyous New Year Parade).
The organisers have defended the renaming of the vibrant parade recognised by UNESCO in 2016 as an intangible cultural heritage, saying it has simply reverted to what it was once called, in 1989, when the event was launched.
“This is a reversion to the parade’s original name,” Prof Azharul Islam Sheikh, coordinator of the organising committee and dean of the fine arts faculty, told Al Jazeera.
For the organisers, the name change represents a break from the legacy of Hasina’s Awami League which ruled Bangladesh for 15 years and faced accusations of serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances.
But critics are pushing back, arguing that the shift is about more than a new start. They say it risks erasing a symbol of Bangladesh’s pluralistic tradition.
People march down a street during celebrations marking the Bengali New Year in Dhaka on April 14, 2025, with a bust apparently depicting ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]
What’s the parade about?
The parade begins at dawn on the first day of the Bengali New Year.
It features enormous, colourful makeshift statues crafted from bamboo and paper, including representations of animals, birds, and folktales. Women usually wear white saris with red borders, and men dress in panjabis, the long, collarless shirts worn over pyjamas by Bengalis in India and Bangladesh.
The procession moves through the streets of Dhaka, accompanied by the rhythmic beats of traditional drums, and is broadcast live on national television, allowing households across the country to partake in the celebrations. Participants often hold up banners with a range of messages.
The inaugural Ananda Shobhajatra in 1989 was conceived as a subtle yet powerful act of cultural resistance against the then-military dictatorship of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
Dhaka University’s student organisers crafted large, colourful effigies — grotesque owls to represent corruption, tigers symbolising courage, and doves for peace — to mock the regime’s authoritarian grip.
While the parade did not feature overt protest chants, its very existence was a form of dissent. By reclaiming public space for artistic expression and cultural celebration, the students challenged the suppression of civil liberties under military rule. The procession’s symbolism and timing conveyed a collective yearning for democracy and freedom.
A little more than a year later, in December 1990, Ershad resigned following mass protests and civil unrest, leading to the establishment of a caretaker government and the restoration of parliamentary democracy.
In 1996, organisers changed the name of the Ananda Shobhajatra to Mangal Shobhajatra. The word “mangal” has Sanskrit origins, meaning “auspicious” or “welfare” in the ancient Indian language, introduced to symbolise a collective aspiration for a better future, reflecting the nation’s renewed commitment to democracy following the end of military rule.
But the name would prove controversial.
Why are these names controversial?
In recent years, conservative and Islamist groups have criticised the event, viewing it as contrary to Islamic principles.
In April 2023, Supreme Court lawyer Mahmudul Hasan sent the Hasina government a legal notice, arguing that the term “mangal” has Hindu religious connotations because of its Sanskrit roots. He argued that the event’s motifs, such as sculptures of birds and animals, offended Muslim sentiments, citing, among other things, a part of the Bangladesh Penal Code that punishes “anyone who deliberately and maliciously insults the religion or religious beliefs of any class of citizens”.
Hasan said following his notice, the government withdrew a notification it had sent all universities to mandatorily hold the Mangal Shobhajatra, as the Bengali New Year in 2023 came during the month of Ramadan. The main parade, organised by Dhaka University, went ahead as always.
However, Hasan’s move did not go unchallenged.
In a statement at that time, the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, an alliance of several left and centre-left cultural organisations, said the lawyer’s move was an attempt to destabilise the country through communal rhetoric.
The motifs that Hasan objected to have been central to the parade’s visual elements from the inaugural 1989 procession, including in the years when the Awami League and Hasina have been out of power, and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been in office.
Security personnel stand guard as people march down a street in Dhaka on April 14, 2025 [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]
Historian Mohammad Golam Rabbani of Jahangirnagar University said concerns over the parade in recent years involved more than just religious factors.
Early celebrations of the Bengali New Year were deeply rooted in rural culture and the agrarian economy; there were events marking the harvest, for instance. “However, in the last few decades, it has become urban-centric,” Rabbani told Al Jazeera. “The motifs selected by the urban artists for the Mangal Shobhajatra were often unrepresentative of the rural folk.”
The July 2024 uprising that culminated in Hasina’s ousting the following month “sparked a desire for a cultural” reset, he said. The current debate over the name of the parade was, he added, a “reflection” of this.
However, the renaming this year has faced opposition too. Left-leaning student groups have condemned the change, calling it “a surrender to communal forces” by the interim government and a threat to Bangladesh’s tradition of secular cultural expression. On Tuesday night, unidentified arsonists set fire to the home of an artist who created some of the busts used in this week’s parade.
Some students at Dhaka University’s fine arts faculty have also criticised the name change. They argued that the word “mangal” had no link to the former governing party’s ideology.
“If the 1996 renaming was unjust, so is this,” said Zahid Jamil, one of the students.
What are the new motifs in the parade?
This year’s procession retained its traditional aesthetic, including motifs of animals and fish, but incorporated political motifs in floats that participated in the parade reflecting last year’s deadly uprising.
Leading the march was a 20-foot-tall “Face of Fascism” bust, widely seen as representing Hasina. Other motifs included a typographic design of “36 July”, representing the 36 days of deadly uprising from July 1 to August 5 last year, during which about 1,400 people were killed, and a portrait of Mugdha, a young man killed while serving water to the protesters during the uprising, symbolised by a water bottle.
While some hailed the symbolism, others criticised it as an attempt to politicise Bengali New Year celebrations.
“Hate breeds hate; generations are trapped in the binary of hatred. Yet, may every mind be free from hate,” Nadim Mahmud, a Bangladeshi researcher at the University of California, wrote on Facebook.
Other motifs focused on the national fish hilsa, also known as the ilish, figures of horses and tigers, and the watermelon — symbolising Palestine and resistance.
People gathered in Dhaka and nearby areas for the annual parade [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]
Bengali versus Bangladeshi: Politics of nationalism
The debate over the renaming and meaning of the parade also reflects broader fissures in Bangladesh, particularly the ideological divide between Bengali and Bangladeshi nationalism.
Bengali nationalism, championed by the Awami League (AL), emphasises ethnic and linguistic identity rooted in Bengali language and culture.
In contrast, Bangladeshi nationalism, promoted by the BNP, centres on a territorial state identity, highlighting Islamic heritage and national sovereignty.
“Ideologically, the AL promotes a tribal identity, while the BNP and other like-minded parties promote a national identity,” said Rezaul Karim Rony, analyst and editor of Joban magazine. “The difference in how Pahela Baishakh is celebrated can be explained through these competing ideologies.”
The acting head of the interim government’s cultural ministry and popular playwright, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, accused previous administrations of limiting the celebration among the Bengali majority.
“We’ve long treated this as a festival of [only] the Bengali people, but it’s a celebration of all of Bangladeshis, [including all ethnic minorities],” he told reporters at Dhaka University before joining the parade.
This year, the parade featured participation from 28 ethnic minority groups wearing traditional attire, many of whom were invited officially by the government.
“For the first time, we were officially invited,” Chanumung, head of the southeastern hill tract district of Bandarban’s festival committee, who goes by a single name, told BBC Bangla. “It feels like Pahela Baishakh is finally being celebrated by all.”
Also seen in the parade were players from Bangladesh’s women’s football team, wearing their team jerseys.
Farooki rejected suggestions that the current government was politicising the parade — instead accusing the AL governments of having used the celebration for political messaging.
He said the government had not imposed the name change and that it was a decision taken by Dhaka University’s fine arts faculty.
What happened at Monday’s parade?
Since early morning on April 14, the mostly young crowds poured in from Dhaka and nearby areas, packing the street in front of the fine arts faculty well before the parade began.
Participants like Kaiser Ahmed, who joined last year’s antigovernment protests, said they had returned to the celebrations after years.
“I boycotted this event for a decade under Hasina’s oppressive rule. Today I’m here again in a free environment,” he told BBC Bangla.
Some analysts view the return to the original name of the parade as a reversal of “cultural fascism”, despite concerns that it reflects the politicisation of culture.
“Under the Awami League, Pahela Baishakh became a tool of cultural dominance,” said Rony, alleging that the Bengali Muslim peasant majority was sidelined.
Other analysts like Kamal Uddin Kabir, assistant professor at Jagannath University’s department of theatre, differed.
“This sets a bad example,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to the political use of motifs. “I never imagined the New Year celebration would be organised like this. If power shifts again, the next government might do the same.”
Rony, however, said he sees no problem with the politicisation of the New Year celebration.
“Culture is inherently political, but the key question is whether the political expression of culture upholds rights and promotes inclusion or suppresses diversity and sows division.”
