Durga Puja is around the corner, and devotees are gearing up to celebrate the annual 10-day festival with great fervor and enthusiasm. However, for Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, celebrations might take a back seat this year, as radical groups have issued warnings to Hindus in the nation.
Durga Puja celebration committees have received anonymous letters demanding $4,200 for the celebrations. The letters warned that failure to comply would result in members being ‘chopped into pieces.’ Radical groups have also threatened to harm the families of Hindu committee members. In the Uttara suburb of Dhaka, they stood on roads forming human chains in an attempt to stop this year’s festivities.
Additionally, the radical group Insaf Keemkari Chhatra Janta has warned against open celebrations of the festival, including idol worship and immersion. The group staged a protest in Dhaka’s Sector 13, opposing the Hindu community’s use of a playground that has been a traditional venue for Durga Puja for many years.
But that’s not all. Radical groups have also demanded the removal of Durga Puja from the list of national holidays and the demolition of several temples built in the country. This has forced the Hindu community in Bangladesh to change the venues for Durga Puja festivities.
Since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have continued unabated. Hindu houses have been torched, businesses targeted, and temples desecrated. Despite public assurances to protect minorities, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has yet to take effective action. Is it time for the world to wake up to the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh?
Speaking exclusively with NewsX, Former Diplomat- AMB Bhaswati Mukherjee said that there are one an a half crore hindus in Bangladesh and there is no way in which the Hindu be permitted to cross the border and come to West Bengal to balance peace in Bangladesh. Along with one and half Hindus, there will be Muslim Jihadis who will also be coming. However, the discussion that we are having now is nothing new, Previously during Sheikh Hasina’s time, Maa Durga’s head was chopped off. On the other hand, Muhammad Yunus has made his angle very clear by visiting United States, he met Kamala Harris, he met the US President.
She added, “Let us not invite India to behave like Israel, which has violated international laws and is bombing southern Beirut, killing thousands of civilians. So, let’s avoid emotions and the notion that we can accommodate 1.5 crore Hindus along with perhaps 1 crore Muslims, Jihadis, and Rohingyas in India.”
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