Durga Puja attacks in Bangladesh, Yunus reaches Dhakeshwari temple

Head of the interim Government of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus visited centuries-old Dhakeshwari temple in the capital on Saturday following reports of an attack on a major Durga Puja ceremony in Dhaka. Yunus told a program in the temple that the government wants to make Bangladesh in such a way, where equal rights of every citizen will be ensured. He, during the visit, greeted the members of the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Hindus in Bangladesh. Earlier it was announced that Yunus plans to visit on Sunday. Dhakeshwari temple is considered as one of the major Shaktipeeths.

It is important to mention that on Friday night, a crude bomb was hurled at a Durga Puja pavilion in the Tanti Bazar area of ​​old Dhaka. After that, a fire broke out, and many people were injured. Bangladesh Local Government Advisor A F Hasan Arif reached the local hospital to meet those who were injured in the attack on the Tanti Bazar pavilion. Arif also inspected the Puja pavilion built by the Tanti Bazar Puja Committee. The incident broke out earlier on Thursday when six persons reportedly sang a song advocating Islamic revolution on the stage of a Durga Puja pavilion at Jatra Mohan Sen Hall in Chittagong - about 250 km south-east of Dhaka, expressing widespread outrage.

It would be relevant to mention here that about 35 ill incidents connected with the Durga Puja festival have seen the light of day in Bangladesh from October 1 till Friday, and 17 people were arrested. In the backdrop of these reports, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi had expressed serious concern over reports of attacks on Durga Puja pavilions, citing Friday's Tantibazaar incident and theft of a gold crown from the Jeshoreshwari Kali temple in Satkhira, about 270 km from Dhaka. Significantly, a five-day Hindu religious festival of Bangladesh started on Wednesday, with the invocation of Goddess Durga, popularly known as Mahashashthi.

It ends on Sunday with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga. Minority Hindus have become a victim of persecution during the violence that erupted in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina was ousted from the post of Prime Minister on August 5. Business establishments and properties were vandalized, apart from damaging temples. Only eight percent of Bangladesh's 17 crore population are Hindus.