Dhaka, Oct 10 (PTI) Bangladesh on Thursday began an extended official holiday as Hindu community’s Durga Puja celebration got underway amid tight security at temples and makeshift mandaps across the country.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus is expected to visit on Sunday the centuries-old Dhakeswari national temple, one of the prominent shaktee peeths.
“We are celebrating the puja for the second day today (Saptami) amid festivity. No untoward incident from anywhere has been reported so far,” Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council leader Kajol Debnath told PTI.
The minority Hindu population faced vandalism of their businesses, and properties and destruction of temples during the student-led violence that erupted following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5.
Thousands of Hindus staged protests in Dhaka and the northeastern port city of Chattogram, demanding protection.
Weeks ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations, the interim government’s Religious Affairs Adviser AFM Khalid Hossain warned tough action against those disrupting communal harmony or targeting places of worship during the Hindu festival.
Hindus constitute about 8 per cent of the 170 million Bangladesh population.
The five-day Hindu religious festival began with an invocation of Goddess Durga, an occasion called Maha Shasthi on Wednesday. The celebrations would conclude with the emersion of Goddess Durga murtis on Sunday.
As per the interim government’s announcement, Thursday is being observed as an extended official holiday.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Yunus both greeted the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja even as there were orders for an extra security vigil in view of recent violence coinciding with the August 5 change of regime that toppled prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in wake of the student-led mass upheaval.
Debnath said 31,462 makeshift puja mandaps were erected this year to celebrate the Durga Puja while the figure was 32408 in 2023 and attributed the decreased number to late monsoon flooding and related issues.
“But this year, we have noticed a visible qualitative change particularly among the religion-based political parties towards the Durga puja with their statements to stand beside the Hindu community to facilitate the puja. I see it as a mark of inclusiveness in their policy,” Debnath said.
TV footages showed a large number of Hindus, including young girls in their colourful dresses, visiting and praying at decorated temples and mandaaps in the backdrop of spiritual music alongside the men.
Religion-based Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamic parties said their activists would be around the temples and mandaps to ensure safety of the devotees.
Meanwhile, the chief adviser’s office sources said Yunus was expected to visit the Dhakeswari national temple on Sunday while several of his advisers and the army chief visited it to see the puja preparedness, assuring their all out support for the festival.
The police chief earlier told reporters that paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and para-police Ansar personnel would be on on 24-hour duty at each mandap to ensure a safe and peaceful celebration. PTI AR NPK NPK
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