President: Promote healthy culture to eliminate militancy

President M Abdul Hamid asked all to come forward to foster, and develop a healthy culture to eliminate militancy, and extremism from society.

“Promote healthy culture . . . You have to use culture as a weapon to eradicate filth from society,” he told a function at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in Dhaka on Thursday.

Terming culture as a safeguard against social malaise, President Hamid said, “Flourishing of culture is very urgent to remove militancy, fanaticism, and animosity from society.”

The head of the state said, “Due to satellite culture, foreign culture is now encroaching into the local culture. We have to accept all the good things that go with our culture, and heritage. ”

President Hamid urged guardians to inspire their children to engage in different cultural activities along with their studies.

Their engagement with cultural, and literary works helps play a significant role in developing human values, patriotism, the spirit of liberation war, and non-communalism, the President observed.

President Hamid also observed that a greater emphasis should be placed on education, increasing job opportunities, promoting positive role models through the media, and building of more effective avenues for civic participation among the youth.

He said the Shilpakala Academy has taken a very good decision by introducing the “Shilpakala Padak.“

The President handed over the “Shilpakala Padak 2018,” in seven categories to seven cultural personalities, for their outstanding contributions in their respective fields.

The awardees are — Alakesh Ghosh in fine arts, M Hamid in dramatics, Sunil Chandra Das in instrumental music, Shukla Sarkar in dance, Gaur Gopal Haldar in vocal music, Jayanta Chattopadhyay in recitation, and Mina Barua in folk culture.

State Minister for Cultural Affairs K M Khalid, MP, BSA Director General Liaquat Ali Lucky, and secretary to Cultural Affairs Ministry Dr Md Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, among others, also spoke on the occasion.

The President enjoyed a cultural function after the award giving ceremony.