January has not even come to an end and we may have upon us the best party of 2019. This massive gathering was apparently attended by a whopping 70,000 people—and they have one man to thank for it—lawmaker Ayeen Uddin.
Incumbent Member of Parliament from Rajshahi 3 Ayeen Uddin called the event a “milon mela” (get together). A proper host, he was present at the celebration from start to finish.
The event was held on Saturday at the bank of the Padma river at the Kasba area of Haripur union in the Paba upazila.
Many people attended the celebration in hopes of a good meal Dhaka Tribune
Lawmaker Ayeen’s personal secretary Iqbal Hossain said: “We mainly did this event to bring together the community after Ayeen Uddin’s re-election. All local MPs were invited to the event, many came, and some did not.”
The invitation sent out by Ayeen said the event was a sort of belated New Year’s party as well as a celebratory event for his re-election as the Rajshahi 3 MP.
Star-studded festivity
The celebratory event was attended by quite a few celebrities. Zahid Hasan, Tushar Khan, Azizul Hakim among others were present to partake in an elaborate cultural program.
State Minister of Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam was invited as a special guest. Officials from 14 unions were invited at the event.
Haripur UP chairman Bozle Rezbi Al Hasan Munzil said: “We cooked with 140 maunds of beef, 20 maunds of mutton, 10 tonnes of rice and 2 tonnes of pulses. I think some 70,000 people were fed.”
It is unclear how the lawmaker came across the funds to hold such an event.
Sources said the organizers had quite a lot of hassle in their endeavour to hold such a massive gathering. Skirmishes broke out here and there, possibly for reasons pertaining to food. More and more people came to join the celebration, and the chefs had to keep cooking in order to feed them.
A grand event means grand funds had to be spent. It also means a grand mess was left behind. One could only hope the lawmaker took steps to ensure the cleanup crew did a good job clearing out the mess of some 70,000 people from the bank of the Padma river.
