Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir stated that in the new Bangladesh, which emerged after defeating the evil forces on August 5, there is no place for discrimination based on religious beliefs. He emphasized that Bangladesh stands as an example of communal harmony and respect for all faiths.
Speaking on Wednesday during a visit to the Dhakeshwari Temple on the first day of Durga Puja, Fakhrul said, “If the BNP returns to power, it will ensure justice through proper investigations and trials for all incidents of persecution against the Hindu community.”
Fakhrul expressed his party’s support for the Hindu community’s eight-point demand submitted to the interim government earlier. “We are considering these demands seriously. Just as we have supported you in every challenge in the past, we will continue to stand by you in the future,” he assured.
Without directly naming the Awami League, Fakhrul criticized the ruling party for its role in previous incidents of persecution against minority communities. “It is unfortunate but true that the very political party claiming to be the protector of the minority community has been involved in incidents of repression across the country.
They were behind land and property grabs belonging to your community,” he alleged. He promised that if the BNP forms the government, every incident will be thoroughly investigated, and justice will be served.
During the event, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad General Secretary and Kalbela editor Santosh Sharma presented the Hindu community’s eight-point demand.
Mirza Fakhrul also condemned foreign media for spreading “biased and false reports” to undermine the political change that followed the fall of the Awami League government through the mass uprising. “I won’t deny that incidents occurred, but many of them were political, not communal in nature,” he clarified.
He recounted the BNP’s struggle against the Awami League’s rule over the past 15 years, highlighting the repression, killings, enforced disappearances, and imprisonment of BNP leaders and activists under false charges. Fakhrul paid tribute to the more than 1,500 people who lost their lives during the mass uprising, calling on the government to compensate the families of the martyrs and support them.
On behalf of the BNP, its Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, Fakhrul extended his warm wishes to the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja.