DHAKA, April 13, 2024 (BSS) - President Mohammed Shahabuddin has greeted the countrymen on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali New Year 1431, to be celebrated across the country tomorrow.

In a message issued today, the President wished all Bangladeshis living in the country and abroad a happy Bengali New Year.

The advent of Baishakh comes to people's lives with ever new messages, the head of the state said, adding that forgetting sorrows, decay and failure, everyone wakes up with great joy and amid festivities.

He said Pahela Baishakh is the main part of the eternal tradition of the Bengali nation.

The counting of the year, which started during the Mughal period as the crop year (Fasali shan), has become a commemorative festival imbued with non-communal spirit among all Bengalis over time, he added.

At that time, Pahela Baishakh was the main force in the development, self-control and liberation of Bengali culture, he continued.
 
With the emergence of Bangladesh, this power of culture strengthened and accelerated the political spirit, said Shahabuddin.

The President said the traditional Mangal Shovajatra, a procession brought on the first day of Bengali New Year, got UNESCO recognition in 2016 as world heritage.

This international recognition of national culture is an absolute pride and dignity for Bengalis as a nation, he said, adding that one of the foundations of the philosophy and ideology of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the development of native culture and development of national spirit.

This consciousness was active in the Bengali New Year that Bangabandhu celebrated with his fellow prisoners while he was confined to prison, he said.

He urged all to build a happy and prosperous Smart Bangladesh free from hunger and poverty by embracing this liberal spirit, Bangabandhu's philosophy of state, the ideal of establishing Bangladesh and the flame of state-language spirit.