An event honouring legendary Lalon singer Farida Parveen in Mymensingh yesterday turned into a cultural protest against recent attacks on Baul culture and practices.

The celebrated creator of the iconic song “Lal Pahari Deshe Ja”, Arun Chakraborty, has passed away. He breathed his last at 12:10am today at his residence on Farm Side Road in Chinsurah, Hooghly district, West Bengal. The eminent artiste was 80 years old. The news of his passing was confirmed to Prothom Alo by family friend Saptarshi Ray Bardhan.

Time and again, bauls, fakirs, and sadhus have faced inhumane aggression and had their homes destroyed by vandals who oppose the rise of cultural and social bloom in our country.