Bangladeshi Community to Celebrate This Weekend

By Charles Sercombe

The Bangladesh community will be on full display this weekend.

On Friday, starting at 6 p.m., Conant will be closed off from Caniff to Harold. Folk dancers, performers, food vendors and more will be center stage over the weekend.

On Sunday at about 8:30 p.m., Mayor Karen Majewski will be the keynote speaker.

The event hasn’t come easily.

The Bangladeshi’s politically fractious community has been fighting to see who is going to control the festival. City Councilmember Shahab Ahmed has been designated by the city manager as the one who is in charge.

Ahmed was to work out a deal with the Bangladesh Association of Michigan and the North American Bangladeshi Festival on how the groups will participate.

At a special council meeting Tuesday evening, the council chambers was filled with members of the Bangladeshi community. One person seeking control of the event warned that if a compromise isn’t found, there could be violence.

The festival is just two weeks away from a hotly contested primary election for mayor and council.

Mayoral candidate Akm Rahman said the event is nothing more than a political rally for Ahmed and Mayor Majewski.