Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad holds a protest rally at Shahbagh in Dhaka on Monday demanding immediate release of Bhola District Puja Udjapan Parishad president Gouranga Chandra Dey. — New Age photo
Hindu leaders on Monday at a protest rally in Dhaka called on the government to take immediate steps to stop attacks on Hindus ahead of the Durga Puja.
The Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad organised the rally in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh protesting against attacks on the Hindu community in different districts and demanding release of Bhola District Puja Udjapan Parishad president Gouranga Chandra Dey, who has been arrested by the police recently.
Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council central leader Kazal Debnath said that Hindu idols were vandalised and attacks on minority Hindu people increased in different districts ahead of Durga Puja.
He called on the government to take immediate steps to stop such attacks and warned that they would wage movements if the attacks were not stopped.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad general secretary Nirmal Chatterjee said that the police arrested Pairshad’s Bhola district president Gouranga Chandra Dey 10 days ago in a ‘false’ case.
A quarter with a vested interest hacked Gouranga’s Facebook ID and made a post against an influential person of the area, Nirmal said.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Milon Kanti Dey, who chaired the rally, warned that the Hindu community of Bhola might refrain from celebrating Durga Puja if Gouranga was not released immediately.
Hindu leaders Monindra Kumar Nath, Bashudeb Dhar, JL Bhowmik, Mati Lal Roy, Bhupendra Bhowmik Dolan and Jayanta Kumar Deb, among others, spoke at the rally.
The rally was followed by a protest procession that ended in front of the Teacher Student Centre in Dhaka University.
The Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad held protest programmes in most of the districts to press home its demands, a press release of the parishad said.
