Chhatra Shibir's New Year publication festival begins at Dhaka University with cover unveiling at Bottola

The 2027 New Year publication festival of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir began at the Bottola of Dhaka University with the unveiling of the covers of its new publications. The central theme of this year's festival is the prosperity of Bangladesh and the history and heritage of the Muslim sultanates.

On Friday afternoon (6 November), students from Dhaka University and other educational institutions, along with members of the public, gathered at the Bottola in front of the university building for the festival. The stalls displayed the new year's publications as well as those from previous years.

The stalls offered a three-page calendar, one-page large and small calendars, a desk calendar, a year planner, large diaries in Bangla and English, medium diaries, pocket diaries, and stickers carrying Islamic and awareness messages.

The centre of discussion at the festival was the three-page calendar, which presents Bangladesh's geopolitics and national interest through six themes. The first theme is 'geopolitics', discussing Bangladesh's geographical position, strategic potential and decision-making capacity. The second is 'border'. The third is 'river', covering water shares, inviolable national interest, and the life of the river above the question of water shares. The fourth is the 'Bay of Bengal'. The fifth is 'identity', which includes the search for the roots of Muslim identity, 1971 and the crisis of Muslim identity, countering foreign intelligence activity, and finding self-identity to counter hegemony. The sixth is 'technology and energy'.

The desk calendar features photographs and brief introductions of 12 historic mosques of the Muslim world.

Alongside space for personal information, the Bangla diary contains a list of possible government holidays, phone numbers of the Bangladesh Secretariat and district commissioners, a list of public and private universities, medical and health information, daily Masnun duas, date-wise important notes, and a world map.

The English diary includes international dialling codes, important phone numbers in Dhaka, the calendar of prayers and fasting, and quotations of eminent personalities. The medium and pocket diaries contain a map of Bangladesh with a brief introduction, a gift chart, a personal information chart, and the practical diary format for 2027.

After the unveiling, the organisation's central president Nurul Islam, secretary general Sibgatullah, and DUCSU vice-president Abu Sadiq Kayem, along with other leaders, visited the stalls. Leaders and activists were also seen gifting the new year's publications to one another. Sibgatullah presented the contents of the publications to those present.

Central publication editor Amirul Islam conducted the programme, in which central president Nurul Islam was the chief guest. He said the publications were the fruit of long research and thought. To face challenges such as the moral degradation of the young generation, drug addiction and teenage gangs, it is essential to raise them morally and ideologically, and Chhatra Shibir is carrying on that effort.

He said that alongside training, research-based publications, magazines, science magazines and religious books are handed to students every year, and despite many adversities that continuity has been maintained this year. “Our publications are not merely gift items or means of entertainment,” Nurul Islam said. Their aim, he said, is to carry the message of history, heritage, knowledge, science and morality to students, families, guardians and well-wishers.

Secretary general Sibgatullah said attempts had repeatedly been made to stop Chhatra Shibir's journey, but the organisation did not try to bring anyone to its ideals by intimidation. Instead, it tried to win the hearts of general students through creativity, beauty and excellence. He claimed that the past 16 years of fascist rule had kept the country subservient to a hegemonic power, and it was from that reality that this year's calendar presents Bangladesh's geographical position, history and heritage, challenges and possibilities.

In his speech as special guest, DUCSU vice-president Abu Sadiq Kayem recalled the university's past situation. He said there was once a time when one could speak freely about Karl Marx, Lenin or materialist philosophy at the university, but not about Allah and the Prophet (peace be upon him). Students faced torture and show-cause notices for organising gatherings of the Quran. In his words, today their successors are openly holding a festival at this very Bottola.

He claimed that Chhatra Shibir practises the politics of creativity and nation-building instead of extortion, tender manipulation and occupation, and that through it an ideal generation is being built that will lead the construction of a justice-based Bangladesh.

The organisation's central office secretary Azizur Rahman Azad said that in the past 16 years there had been no opportunity to present Chhatra Shibir's constructive activities before students. Since its founding, he said, the organisation has worked to build a civilisation on the basis of justice and fairness, and in staying firm on that path more than three hundred of its members have been martyred, he claimed.

Also present at the programme were central Baitulmal secretary Anisur Rahman, college activities secretary Hafez Yusuf Islahi, higher education and research secretary Md Fakhrul Islam, publicity secretary S M Farhad, social service secretary and Raksu vice-president Md Mostakur Rahman Zahid, HRD secretary Helal Uddin Rubel, law secretary Shamim Uddin, sports secretary Mushfiqur Rahman, student rights secretary and Jaksu vice-president Riazul Islam, members of the secretariat and executive council, and leaders of various Dhaka branches.