Bengali New Year, a traditional festival of Bengali culture, is being celebrated across the country including Dhaka. The slogan of this year’s Mars parade is ‘Amra to Timirbinashi’. The main attraction of the New Year is Mangal Shobhayatra, which has been taken out from the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.

On Sunday around 9:30 AM, the Mangal Sobhayatra started from the front of the art gallery. The procession ends in front of Shah Bagh, Dhaka Club and Shishu Park in front of the Fine Arts and ends at TSC with Uturn.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor ASM Maksud Kamal inaugurated the procession. University teachers, students and people from different walks of life spontaneously participated in the procession. The entire area is wrapped in a tight security blanket. No one will be able to participate in the Mars procession on the way. Because a human wall has been formed with the help of law and order forces.

In the procession, there were many symbolic presentations of the history and tradition of modern Bengal along with the recent events.

Earlier, thousands of festival-loving people in Bengali attire are lining the road from Shahbagh to Charukala to participate in the Mangal procession. Besides, some festival lovers from outside the country have also come to art to participate.

Festival-loving boys wear white Punjabis and pyjamas. Comes with black sunglasses. On the other hand, girls wear white sarees and red blouses. Most of the children who accompanied them were also seen wearing pyjamas, Punjabi.

Several layers of security surround the procession. SWAT members are with police, RAB. Members of intelligence agencies in plain clothes are also active.

This year’s procession features blue cow, peacock, tiger, elephant, sheep and mother and child. The message of Mars is the owl. There are also fish and king-queen masks.

Adequate number of police are deployed along the entire route of the procession. This time too the use of mask and playing of vuvuzela is prohibited. Central road has been closed in Ramna Park, Dhaka University and surrounding areas for safety.

In 2016, the Mangal Shobhayatra, initiated by the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University, was included in the list of cultural heritage of the United Nations organization UNESCO.