In
an attempt to suppress Bengali culture, the Pakistani Government had
banned poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, the nobel prize winner in Bengali literature. Protesting this move, Chhayanat opened
their Poyela Boishakh celebrations at Ramna Park with Tagore's song
welcoming the month in 1965. The day continued to be celebrated in East
Pakistan (Bangladesh) as a symbol of Bengali culture. After 1972 it
became a national festival, a symbol of the Bangladesh nationalist
movement and an integral part of the people's cultural-heritage .Later,
in the mid- 1980s the Institute of Fine Arts added color to the day by
initiating the Boishakhi parade, which is much like a carnival parade. In
the big metropolitans like Dhaka and Chittagong this day is marked by
mass crowd flocking to hundreds of open air concerts and cultural
program, mask rallies etc.
