Singer James' concert in Bangladesh called off after mob attack

A concert by popular Bangladeshi rock icon James, also known as Nagar Baul, was cancelled on Friday night after clashes broke out at Faridpur Zila School during its 185th anniversary celebrations, leaving at least 25 people injured. According to reports, the concert was scheduled to take place at 9:00 pm on Friday to commemorate a local school's anniversary. A group of attackers tried to force entry at the venue and threw bricks and stones at the crowd. Locals said the students resisted the attackers, but eventually the concert had to be cancelled following instructions from local authorities. James is a Bangladeshi singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer. James narrowly escaped amid the chaos and was taken away from the venue under security cover. No official injuries to the artist or his band members were reported.

Islamists in Bangladesh attacked and vandalized a concert of prominent singer James in Faridpur district as music has been declared haram by the Islamist-jihadist cabal of Muhammad Yunus. But the same nexus allows concerts of Pakistani singer Atif Aslam. pic.twitter.com/hZ0wVM0cFW

— Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury (@salah_shoaib) December 26, 2025

Author Taslima Nasreen highlighted the incident and slammed the pattern developing in Bangladesh. In a post on social media platform X, she said, "The cultural center Chhayanaut has been burned to ashes. Udichi-the organization that was built to foster a secular and progressive consciousness through the promotion of music, theater, dance, recitation, and folk culture-has also been burned to ashes. Today, jihadists did not allow the renowned singer James to perform at an event." "A few days ago, Siraj Ali Khan had come to Dhaka. He is the grandson of Ali Akbar Khan, the son of the world-famous maestro Ustad Allauddin Khan. Siraj Ali Khan himself is a distinguished artist of the Maihar gharana. He returned to India without performing any program in Dhaka, saying that he would not come to Bangladesh again until artists, music, and cultural institutions are safe," Nasreen added.

In recent times, as hardline, Islamic radical mobs have taken over the streets in Bangladesh with the state turning a blind eye, cultural institutions like Chhayanaut, Udichi, artists, journalists, and newspaper offices have come under attack. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government had failed to control mobs, and critics of the interim government allege that these incidents of violence and arson are being orchestrated to create a law-and-order situation so that elections scheduled in February are postponed.