Religious Harmony Prevails in Bangladesh, Minister Mirza Fakhrul Assures Hindu Leaders

Religious harmony prevails in Bangladesh, says Minister Mirza Fakhrul

Dhaka, June 24

"We had a meeting with the Sitakunda Shrine Committee regarding the development of the shrine. There are a lot of problems there, previously. It was not done by the previous government. So we had a meeting along with the special adviser to the Prime Minister, Bijon Kanti Sarkar, and the leaders of this shrine committee", Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Minister for the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, told ANI.

"We have sorted out the issues, and we have already instructed the Local Government Secretary to do the needful", said Alamgir, who is also the Secretary General of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

"I don't think there is any challenge in this country. There is total harmony in this country. Unfortunately, some people deliberately try to create some problems, but as a whole, there is no problem in this country. There is total religious harmony in this country", the Minister said.

Discussion has also been the perceived disrespect towards Lord Ram and the tensions arising from the construction of the Ram Temple.

"We have been in communication with the gentleman who is building the statue of Ram, which is 81 feet tall. We are continuing discussions with them, and we will keep talking in order to resolve the issue through dialogue", Bijon Kanti Sarkar, Special Assistant (State Minister Status) to Prime Minister on Religious Affairs, told ANI.

"There are a lot of pending issues related to the minority community. These are long-standing, with many different aspects. The previous government tried to address it, but couldn't find a resolution. Now, the current government has begun working on resolving these pending issues, so we will have to wait and see how these problems can be solved," Tapan Majumder, Vice Chairman of Hindu Religion Welfare Trust, told ANI.

Hindu leaders said the Minister has assured to resolve their problems.

"Today we have come to meet the LGRD Minister, and the purpose was for the upcoming development of the Sitakunda Shrine Committee, and the stairs are going to be reformed, developed, and for the purposes of the devotees who have come from all around the country to the Sitakunda in Chandranath Dham. And mostly, all the people, nearly three to four million, are there for the visit during Shiv Chaturdashi. It's called about Shivratri in Bangladesh", Novelty Roy Uday, Convener, Bangladesh Student Unity Council, Dhaka Metropolitan South, Part of Bangladesh Hindu Buddist Christan Unity Council, told ANI.

"We are really looking forward to the new government and the new process in Bangladesh. Right now, we just finished the meeting with the Minister, and he has assured us that he has taken all the responsibilities that all these purposes and all these works are going to be fulfilled very soon", he added.

"We had a long discussion on various issues. As we have talked about, Chandranath Dham, we have talked about religious harmony, we have talked about mob violence, at the same time, we have talked about Gaibandha Palashbari issues. And on that time, we have strongly demanded that we need a commission for the prevention of religious violence, at the same time we need a law protecting religious structures," he said.

Talking about requests for the development of a Sanskrit and Pali Education Board, he added, "At the same time, we have been told that we need the development of the Sanskrit and Pali Education Board. And we have strongly demanded that we have a prayer room for the minority in at every university. At the same time, we have suggested him, we have asked him to visit Gaibandha Palashbari so that our people get hope that our government is with us", Sushmita Kar, spokesperson of Minority Rights Movement, told ANI.

"We are expecting that the BNP government will show us some differences. We will see that what comes next", she added.

— ANI