BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has said that “those who persecuted followers of Sanatan Dharma in 1971 have once again returned in a new guise and are now contesting elections.” He posed the question to the nation as to whether all citizens of the country would be safe in their hands.
He made the remarks on Friday morning while speaking as the chief guest at an exchange meeting with members of the Hindu and Buddhist communities at Bishwaspara in Pekua Sadar, Cox’s Bazar—his own constituency.
Addressing the meeting, Salahuddin Ahmed said, “During the great War of Independence, followers of Sanatan Dharma in this country suffered the most persecution and made the greatest sacrifices at the hands of a religion-based party. The ancestors of our Sanatan brothers and sisters know this history well. Those who did not believe in independence or did not want independence were the very ones who inflicted such persecution on the Sanatan community.”
He further said, “During BNP’s tenure in government, people of all religions in this country were safe. Our party’s founder, the martyred President Ziaur Rahman, ensured religious freedom for people of all faiths. He recognized everyone living on this land as Bangladeshis. We too do not want any form of ethnic, religious, or racial division—we want to live together as Bangladeshis.”
The meeting was chaired by Chandamoy Biswas Tilak, former General Secretary of the Pekua Upazila Bishwaspara Puja Udjapan Parishad. Others who spoke included Pekua Upazila BNP President Bahadur Shah; Upazila Jubo Dal Convener Kamran Jadid Mukut; President of the Bishwaspara Central Durga Temple, Shimul Biswas; Convener of the Upazila Puja Udjapan Front, Ramesh Biswas; President of the Upazila Puja Udjapan Committee, Suman Biswas; General Secretary of the Upazila Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council, Antoyching Rakhine; President of the Barbakia Loknath Temple Management Committee, Ripon Kanti Nath; President of the Barbakia Sarbojanin Durga Temple, Paritosh Nath; President of the Shilkhali Vishnu Temple, Master Anil Kanti Shil, among others.
