At about 1:40pm thousands of anxious people breathed a sigh of relief after holding their nerves for over six minutes at the National Parade Ground, when it was confirmed that their effort was worthy of new world record involving the largest number of people being able to create a national flag by holding placards overhead. When the auspicious moment of creating the world record finally came with a countdown after three hours of effort, the participants cheered in joy, and threw the green and red cards into the sky, amid a standing ovation from the crowd.
In a rousing display of patriotism and unity, a total of 27,117 students and others including army personnel took part in creating the world’s largest human flag at the Parade Ground on the Victory Day of the nation, in front of a Guinness World Record adjudicator.
The participants began to shape the flag at about 10:30am. Volunteers managed young girls and boys from different city schools and made sure that they worked in synchrony with others.
Some students held up the green rectangles of the flag which symbolises the lush, green land of Bangladesh and others made up the red circle in the middle of the flag, which stands for the blood of those who gave their lives for Bangladesh’s independence.
At 1:35 pm, the participants al held up their green and red cards and though in order to set a Guinness world record, they only needed to hold the cards overhead for five minutes they hold it for 6:16 minutes.
A helicopter was captured the view of the flag from the air which followed the official dimensions of the flag, and placement of the red centre circle, as specified in the Bangladesh gazette.
Participants stood shoulder to shoulder, covering an area of over one lakh square feet to break the record held by none other than Pakistan, the country with which Bangladesh fought a bloody nine-month war to gain independence. Pakistanis created the record on October 21, 2012.
‘We defeated Pakistan on this day in 1971 and we did the same thing today,’ said Faridur Reza Sagar, managing director of Channel i, one of the media partners for the event organised by private mobile phone operator Robi with the help of the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division.
A total of 27,117 participants raised red and green placards above their heads to form the world’s largest human flag said Sayed Talat Kamal, vice president (communications and media relations) of Robi.
Organizers said that Guinness World Records authorities after scrutinizing the documents would likely to introduce the record in its list.
It was a moment of emotion, pride and satisfaction for both the participants and thousands of viewers watching the event on the ground, said participants and spectators.
-With New Age input
