In New York, Drishtipat arranged a fundraiser event on Saturday the 2nd of February, 2002. This event was a symbol of strength of Drishtipat.  This fund raising was not large in terms of money but it was the sweetest $1200 which help strengthen our dreams of a pluralistic and inclusive Bangladesh.

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• Comments from:

  • Asif Saleh

  • Robin Khundkar and

  • Syed Yousuf

A little bit of drama, politics and suspense, it had it all. The day before, two NY weeklies published a very negative report on Drishtipat. A certain quarter put the Sakura group (venue of the event) under pressure to cancel the show as it was "anti-Bangladeshi". Lastly some people even misguided some probable audience by saying "Drishtipat's program has been cancelled".

Despite of all these hurdles, the show went well. Dulal Bhoumik, Shawpna Kausar and Tajul Imam enchanted the audience with their heart rendering songs. None of them, in spite being professional singers, took a single penny from Drishtipat. They sang so many "gonoshongits" and "oshamprodayeek" songs!  Dulal Bhoumik brought his CDs and very graciously donated half the money of his CD sales to Drishtipat's fund.  Their songs inspired and made everybody emotional.  Notably Dulaldaa's song "Gramerri nowjoaan, hindu musalman,  age ki shundar din kataitam". 

Hasan Ferdous talked about a letter from home from Dr. Anisuzzaman where he told how our work from here is giving hope to the minorities and how impressed he was when he saw Drishtipat's completely non-partisan way of objectively documenting these issues and taking up this campaign when no one dared to touch it.   He ended with a note of optimism that the song of non-communalism we have started,  eventually everybody will join the chorus.

Later on the show, people spoke briefly about their feelings.  They were all very moved and touched by Drishtipat's efforts. 

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