Hindus in Bangladesh celebrate their biggest festival in the world…

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Teacher Supriya Sarker is happy to celebrate Bangladesh’s biggest Hindu festival, Durga Puja, but believes the festivities would be even more jubilant without the fear and violence that shadows this year’s event.

The week-long festival that ends Sunday in Muslim-majority Bangladesh with the immersion of the Hindu goddess has put pressure on the Hindu community with reports of vandalism, violence and intimidation in parts of Bangladesh, where there have been intimidation and attacks on Hindus, who about 8% of the country’s nearly 170 million inhabitants, or more than 13 million people.

Despite promises 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, especially 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 taking office in August. Durga Puja was seen as a test of his government’s ability to protect minorities.

Minority communities have blamed the Yunus-led government for failing to adequately protect them, and reports indicate that hardline Islamists are becoming increasingly politically influential and visible since the fall of Hasina.

“It is a challenging time for us Hindus,” said Sarker, the school teacher, as she participated in the Kumari Puja in Dhaka’s Uttara district. “We have also faced problems in the past, but we have not seen such an escalation before. This is our country, we want to live here peacefully with our Muslim brothers and sisters and others, without discrimination or intimidation.”

Her concern comes as the country’s main minority rights group, the Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council, said a total of 2,010 incidents of communal violence against minorities, mainly Hindus, were reported between August 4 and 20. The group’s leaders said at least nine people belonging to minority groups were killed, four women were raped and homes, businesses and temples were set on fire or destroyed.

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 there were reports of attacks on temples and idols before this year’s festival formally began on October 9.

Bangladesh’s home affairs adviser Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and incumbent army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman had promised to provide adequate security, Dev said.

“They told us there is nothing to worry about. We became 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 inviting Hindus to join an Islamic movement after taking the stage of a temple on Thursday .

The video of the singing went viral on social media and drew criticism as authorities vowed to arrest and punish those involved. Media reports said they belong to the student wing of the country’s largest Islamist party – Jamaat-e-Islami – but the party denied the accusation.

On Friday evening, a firebomb was thrown at the Hindu goddess at a temple in Tantibazar area of ​​Dhaka, causing panic among devotees gathered at the temple. No one was injured, police said. Media reports, citing volunteers, said at least five people were injured after being stabbed by robbers.

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

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

“We do not need any security if we have the mentality and inclination 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 arrangement and this year’s measures,” she said at Dhaka’s Dhakeswari Temple.

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

He said that besides the police and usual security forces, the army, navy and air force have also been deployed to ensure law and order outside the Hindu festival.

Arpita Barman, a university student, was optimistic.

“The people who gathered here cheered. In the future, we also want more people to come here and celebrate puja. I’m happy to see people, regardless of their religion, here. We want to see such scenes in the future and a harmonious Bangladesh,” she said.