Land and Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs State Minister Barrister Mir Mohammed Helal Uddin on Friday said the previous "fascist" government had deprived the country's youth of opportunities to appreciate and engage in the arts over the past 17 years, while the current government under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is giving due importance to sports, culture and artistic practices.
"We want the country's young people to be enlightened through arts and culture," he said while exchanging views with young artists after visiting the concluding day of the art exhibition titled 'Odhikarer Songram' (The Struggle for Rights) at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
The state minister said the artworks created by the young artists reflect the nation's indomitable courage, sacrifice and long struggle for democratic rights.
"Fine arts are the mirror of a nation's civilisation. The richer this mirror becomes, the more a nation can understand and discover itself," he said.
Mir Helal said the exhibition, which portrays more than seven decades of democratic movements and struggles for rights from the 1952 Language Movement to the 2024 mass uprising through paintings, deserves appreciation.
He said such initiatives will play an important role in introducing history to the new generation.
The state minister also said martyred President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia played significant roles in promoting healthy and progressive arts and culture in the country.
"Continuing that legacy, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has honoured artists and cultural activists with special recognition for their contributions to nation-building, which will further encourage artistic practice," he said.
Mir Helal congratulated the young artists who participated in the exhibition and praised their creative initiatives.
Later, he toured the exhibition and exchanged views on the future and prospects of arts in Bangladesh with the exhibition's chief coordinator and organiser, BNP Assistant Organising Secretary Benazir Ahmed, as well as the participating artists.
The exhibition showcased paintings depicting various democratic movements and struggles for rights in Bangladesh, beginning with the 1952 Language Movement and continuing through the 2024 mass uprising.