In the spirit of victory, the sale of national flag starts from the first day of December and continues till December 16. During the month of victory, the red-green national flag can be seen flying on roofs of houses, balconies of houses, and even on various private vehicles.
Like every year around the victory day, Dhaka`s Chawkbazar is adorned with our national flag.
A uncle-nephew pair has been selling flags at Chawkbazar for 40 years. Along with flags they also sell wrist bands, stickers, stick flags, head bands, batches, caps, paper flags, etc.
Mobarak Hossain (uncle), the flag seller of this shop, told TheReport.live, "We have been doing this business for 40 years and our shop sells all items including books, batches, flags, head caps, paper flags, colored paper. All these are available at wholesale and retail prices."
He also said that since the price of paper and fabric is slightly higher than last year, items has to be sold at a slightly higher price this year.
Shahidul Islam (nephew) said, "The sales of all the items of December 16 are good. However, due to the high price of paper, flags have to be sold at a higher price of ten to fifteen rupees."
He said that business has been a bit slow for the past three to four years due to pandemic, but this time it is going much better.
On the other hand, Lat Mia, another trader of Chawkbazar, told The Report.live, "The price of the goods has increased slightly, the goods which I used to sell for Tk 70-80, now I have to sell them for Tk 100. The price of paper flag is a bit high, many times customers leave after asking the price."
In response to a question about how it feels to sell flags on Victory Day, he said, "I have been selling this flag for a long time and I like it very much. The red green flag is earned by the sacrifice and lives of Bengalis."
On the day of victory, a madrasah student came to buy flag with his father, his father said, "I want my son to know about the significance and importance of the victory day. That`s why we came here to buy our national flag."
A buyer came from Donia to buy flags from Chawkbazar, he said that he buys flag from Chawkbazar every year and sell them at shops. But, this year the price of flags is bit higher than the previous year.
Sifat came from Kamrangichar with his friends to buy flags. He said, "Every year on the occasion of December 16, we decorate our roofs and street of our area, but the price we used to buy flags earlier is no longer in our budget. Still we bought ten thousand flags along with ropes and colored papers."
Although the price has increased but, still there was enthusiasm among the customers to buy flags and other necessary items need for the victory day.
The history of Bengali is tied to the red and green flag. We got the red-green flag after being freed from subjugation by the sacrifice of 3 million martyrs.
Many others are seen selling red-green national flags in Chawkbazar in view of 52 years of victory on December 16.