“Electricity on the minister’s lips, current on the wires” — Ammar protests power-gas crisis in satirical song

Salahuddin Ammar, former general secretary of the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (Raksu), has protested the country’s electricity and gas "crisis" through a satirical song.

He staged the protest on Sunday (8 November) evening at the "Mehfil-e-Inqilab" programme organised by Inqilab Mancha at the Parade Maidan in Chattogram city’s Chawkbazar police station area.

Through the song, Ammar highlighted the rising prices of daily essentials, inflated electricity bills and load-shedding.

Criticising the government, he sang: "Electricity stays on the minister’s lips and on the wires; ghost bills bring more load-shedding."

Poking fun at the power supply situation between songs, Salahuddin Ammar said: "We get electricity in two places. One is on the lips of Electricity Minister Mr Tuku, and the other is on the electric wires."

Artists and cultural organisations from Chattogram and different parts of the country performed regional songs at the programme.

The event was organised to build awareness against cultural hegemony and about regional culture and music. A documentary on the July mass uprising was also screened at the programme.

At different stages of the programme, leaders and activists of Inqilab Mancha chanted slogans demanding justice for the murder of Shaheed Sharif Osman Hadi.

Among those present were Principal Shamsuzzaman Helali, the Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated mayoral candidate for the upcoming Chattogram City Corporation election and the party’s organisational secretary; actor Asaduzzaman Asad; and Fatima Tasnim Juma, central member-secretary of Inqilab Mancha, among others.