Speech hurting religious sentiments won’t be tolerated: PM
Dhaka: Issuing a strong note of warning, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said her government would not allow anybody to speak by hurting the religious sentiments of others.
‘People will follow their respective religions. If anybody doesn’t perform his or her religion, he or she won’t do so. But, he or she has no right to hurt others’ religious sentiments,’ she said.
The Prime Minister came up with the warning when the leaders of the Hindu community called on her at her official residence Ganobhaban in the afternoon on the eve of Janmashtami.
‘Talking by hurting religious sentiments won’t be tolerated and all will have to refrain from it,’ she added.
Sheikh Hasina said everybody will show respect to his or her respective religion.
Awami League Advisory Council Member Suranjit Sengupta, Religious Affairs Minister Principal Motiur Rahman, State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikdar, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Narayan Chandra Chanda, President of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad Kajal Dev Nath, General Secretary Jayanta Kumar Dev, President of Janmashtami Udjapan Parishad Ramesh Ghosh, President of Mohanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee JL Bhowmik and former president of Janmashtami Udjapan Parishad Debashish Palit also spoke
on the occasion.
Principal of Ram Krishna Mission, Dhaka Swami Drubeshananada and Swami Sudarshananda of Chittagong were present at the dais.
Earlier, a silence was observed for one minute as a mark of respects to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other martyrs of the 15 August carnage as well as the martyrs of the 21 August grenade attack.
On the occasion, leaders of Janmashtami Udjapan Parishad, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and Mohanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee greeted the Prime Minister by presenting her with bouquets and a crest.
The Prime Minister called upon the Hindu community people not to undermine themselves by calling them minority. ‘You have immense contribution to the nation’s every movement and struggle. So, we want you will live in this country with own rights and right to motherland,’ she said.
She said the people of all faiths in the country are enjoying their religious rights equally and peacefully as her government believes in communal harmony. ‘We have ensured equal rights of all religions by bringing amendment to the constitution,’ she added.
Sheikh Hasina said the people of all religions under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman liberated the country fighting unitedly and shouldering together through shedding their blood.
She said the goal of independence was that there would exist no communal differences and the people of all faiths would live with their own rights.
‘Bangabandhu had dreamt of establishing Bangladesh with non-communal spirit and he ensured equal rights of all faiths by presenting the constitution after independence,’ she said.
The Prime Minister said secularism does not mean
irreligion, it means freedom of performing religions by all faiths.
She said after the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975, the constitution was trampled by the military rulers time and again alongside destroying the spirit of the War of Liberation.
Expressing gratitude to people for electing the Awami League government with two-thirds majority, she said her government has been able to restore the spirit of the War of Liberation by amending the constitution.
Through amending the constitution, Hasina said, her government has ensured rights of all faiths—Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists – who will perform their religions freely.
Referring to the steps taken by the present government for maintaining communal harmony in the country, Sheikh Hasina said all religious festivals, including Eid and Puja, are being celebrated beautifully and peacefully.
‘People of the country are celebrating the eid, puja and other festivals together with fanfare and gaiety,’ she said.
Recalling the dark chapter of atrocities on the minority community after the 2001 general election, she said no one—Hindus, Christians, Buddhist—was spared from the torture and repression of the BNP-Jamaat. ‘The BNP-Jamaat established a reign of terror at that time by forming terrorist groups,’ she said.
At the very beginning of her speech, the Prime Minister extended her heartfelt greetings to members of the Hindu community across the country on the occasion of Janmashtami.