Bangladesh Hindus celebrate biggest festival amid tight security following attacks

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Schoolteacher Supriya Sarker is happy to celebrate Bangladesh’s biggest Hindu festival, Durga Puja, but says the festivities would be more jubilant without the fear and violence that overshadow this year’s event.

The week-long celebration ending Sunday in Muslim-majority Bangladesh with immersions of the Hindu goddess has strained the Hindu community with reports of vandalism, violence and intimidation in parts of Bangladesh , which have witnessed harassment and attacks against Hindus, who make up about 8% of the country’s nearly 170 million people, or more than 13 million people.

Despite pledges to keep the festival safe, this year’s version was subdued following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and attacks on minority groups, particularly Hindus. Hasina left the country for India due to a mass uprising led by a student-led anti-government movement.

Bangladesh’s current interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has faced serious challenges in maintaining law and order since he took office in August, and Durga Puja has been seen as a litmus test of the ability of his administration to protect minorities.

Minority communities have criticized the Yunus-led government for failing to adequately protect them, and reports suggest that radical Islamists are becoming increasingly influential and politically visible since Hasina’s fall.

“This is a difficult time for us Hindus,” said Sarker, the schoolteacher, as she joined the Kumari Puja in Dhaka’s Uttara district. “We have also faced problems in the past, but we have not seen such escalation before. This is our country, we want to live here in peace with our Muslim and other brothers and sisters, without discrimination or intimidation »

His concern comes as the country’s main minority rights group, the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Unity Council of Bangladesh, said that between August 4 and 20, a total of 2,010 incidents of Communal violence targeting minorities, mainly Hindus, has been reported. The group’s leaders said at least nine people from minority groups were killed, four women raped and homes, businesses and temples burned or vandalized.

In recent weeks, new incidents of vandalism have occurred in parts of Bangladesh as the Hindu community prepared their temples for Durga Puja. In Dhaka’s Uttara district, Hindus were forced to hold the festival at a smaller venue after a procession of Muslims called on authorities not to allow them to install idols in an open field.

Jayanta Kumar Dev, chairman of the Sarbajanin Puja committee, said he received reports of attacks on temples and idols before the official start of this year’s festival on October 9.

Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Advisor Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and incumbent Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman had promised to ensure adequate security, Dev said.

“They told us there was nothing to worry about. We have become satisfied and the puja is taking place across the country,” he said.

But the situation remains tense.

This week, police arrested at least two members of an Islamic cultural group in the southeastern city of Chattogram after six of its members sang Islamic revolutionary songs calling on Hindus to join a movement after taking the stage at a temple on Thursday.

The video of the chant went viral on social media, sparking criticism as authorities promised to arrest and punish those involved. Media reports said they belonged to the student wing of the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, but the party denied the allegation.

On Friday evening, a firebomb was thrown at the Hindu goddess at a temple in Dhaka’s Tantibazar area, causing panic among devotees thronging the temple. No one was injured, police said. According to media reports, citing volunteers, at least five people were injured after being stabbed by attackers.

Security was increased after Friday evening’s incident at the temple, authorities said.

Ankita Bhowmick, a resident of Dhaka, says she is happy with the security provided by the government, but such a situation is stifling.

“We will not need any security if we have the mentality and tendency that every individual can practice his religion according to his customs. There will be no fear. There will be no need for comparison between last year’s security measures and this year’s measures,” she said at Dhakeswari Temple in Dhaka.

Home Affairs Advisor Chowdhury said special security measures would remain in place until Sunday when the festival ends.

He added that apart from the usual police and security agencies, the army, navy and air force have also been deployed to ensure law and order beyond the Hindu festival.

Arpita Barman, a university student, was optimistic.

“The people who crowded here were jubilant. In future, we also want to see more people coming here and celebrating puja. I am happy to see people here regardless of their religion. We want to see such scenes in future and a harmonious Bangladesh,” she said.