Poyla Boishakhi being celebrated in Dhaka

Bengali New Year occurs around the 14th/15th April, is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in Bangladesh and in the Indian state of West Bengal, by the Bengali people and also by minor Bengali communities in other Indian states, including Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand and Orrissa. It coincides with the New Year’s days of numerous Southern Asian calendars and celebrated by the diaspora around the world yet only in Tower Hamlets it is celebrated so late after the date. Infact this year in the middle of June, today this year. Why is this so? 

I understand the London Borough of Tower Hamlets have commissioned the Boishakhi Mela Community Trust Ltd (BMCT) to deliver the Boishakhi Mela. It is a significant event for the Bangladeshi community in the UK as well as other arts, cultural and community events.

Its board of Directors are said to be highly experienced professionals from across the public, private and voluntary sector. Their mixed professional experience means they are able to provide strategic project guidance and personnel support and have an array of experience, expertise, skills and knowledge in financial planning, project design delivery and management.

The Board claims to includes long standing members of the community who have previously been involved in planning the Boishakhi Mela as well new members who have a vast array of cultural knowledge and expertise that add new ideas and impetus to the Boishakhi Mela. So why it is unable to have the celebrations much near to the actual date of Boishakhi around the 14th/15th of April annually? Surely the expertise of the Board should be such to say that its a spring festivity and needs to happen much nearer the actual time that everyone else celebrates it. 

So shubho noboborsho to all that celebrate today in Victoria Park today but it should really have happened several months ago as Tower Hamlets never seem able to celebrate it at the right time.