As Bangladeshis celebrate Durga Puja amidst heightened security and an undercurrent of communal tensions being harboured by a vocal minority, it is indeed heartening to see the Chief Adviser deliver a message of unity and inclusivity to the nation at large.
Durga Puja is indeed a festival for all Bangladeshis, not just the country’s Hindu population -- much like the Muslim holy days of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha, Durga Puja is a day meant for everyone regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity, a day when all cultures across the nation come together and celebrate our inherent diversity.
After all, what unites Bangladesh are the democratic values which gave birth to this nation, the same values which were re-established recently by the student movement which toppled the previous regime, and the same values that we must hold now in order to build the kind of nation we want.
Yes, Bangladesh has, even in the recent past, witnessed troubling incidents of communal unrest with our minority communities coming under attack, but by that barometer our country is still leagues ahead of even some of our most immediate neighbours where social disharmony and communal violence are part of an everyday reality for minority groups.
However, that does not mean there is no scope for us to be better.