Govt failed to provide Hindu community security: Rana Dasgupta

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, said the government has failed to provide the Hindu community with security and to minimise their grievances following the communal attacks.

"Attacks across the country have created a rift between the government and religious minority communities in Bangladesh. The government has also failed to address their grievances and to provide security," he said at a protest rally in Chattogram city on Friday.

Chattogram District Satsanga, a socio-religious welfare organisation, has also arranged a human chain at the Chattogram Press Club, to protest the communal attacks on temples.

 "If the government fails to take appropriate steps in this regard, a catastrophe will befall the country.  We, Bengalis, did not wage a Liberation War in 1971 for this catastrophe," Rana Dasgupta says. 

He said, "A joint effort of the police and the people is a must to resist these communal forces.  Only when all democratic forces in the country address this together can religious minority groups be saved."

He urged everyone to join the public hunger strike at the Andarkilla intersection of the port city on Saturday.

Rana Dasgupta also protested, labeling the man Iqbal Hossain, identified as the one who left a copy of the Holy Qur'an at a Cumilla puja mandap, a "vagabond".

Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council's Chattogram chapter unit president and central joint secretary Shyamol Kumar Palit said communal attacks have been going on in different parts of the country and that these attacks by communal forces are unacceptable after 50 years of independence.

Iskcon Chattogram divisional secretary, Sreepad Chinmoy Krishna Das, said a global movement has already started in Bangladesh to protest the communal attacks and to prevent communal forces in Bangladesh, because the government has already failed to bring the situation under control.   

He demanded the damaged mandaps-temples across the country be rebuilt, not renovated.

Ramkrishna Sebashram Chattogram chapter Secretary Swami Shaktinathanondo, said the ongoing situation is tarnishing the secular image of Bangladesh and obstructing the path of peace and progress."

Chattogram District Satsanga chief Dolon Kumar Dey said, "It is not a country of a single religious community.  People from Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian communities all sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country."

He demanded the formation of a new law to ensure religious freedom for everyone and to protect minorities from communal attacks.