In Bangladesh's Durga Puja, Petrol Bomb Hurled At Idol, Islamic Songs Sung At Pandal | Videos

Unidentified miscreants threw a petrol bomb at a Durga Puja pandal in Dhaka on Friday, according to viral videos spreading on social media platforms. The incident reportedly happened in the Tati Bazar area of Bangladesh’s capital city.

A video shared on an X by a minority rights group showed an injured person being taken to the hospital. This incident came as the five-day Hindu religious festival began with an invocation of Goddess Durga, an occasion called Maha Shasthi on Wednesday.

Durga Puja celebrations

Seventeen persons have been arrested and about a dozen cases were registered after Bangladesh witnessed about 35 untoward incidents related to the ongoing Durga Puja celebrations across the country this month.

“Since October 1, 35 incidents related to the ongoing Durga Puja celebrations have occurred across the country, leading to 11 cases being filed, 24 general diaries (GD) registered, and 17 individuals arrested,” newspaper The Dhaka Tribune said quoting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md Moinul Islam. Islam visited the Banani Puja Mandap in Dhaka on Friday after which he told reporters that Durga Puja was being celebrated at over 32,000 mandaps nationwide.

‘Islami jihadi songs in Durga puja’

Earlier on Thursday, half a dozen men sang a song calling for Islamic revolution on the stage of a Durga puja mandap at Jatra Mohan Sen Hall in Chattogram, about 250 km southeast of Dhaka, the bdnews24.com said. A case was filed against seven people, including the Puja committee’s joint general secretary Sajal Dutta, in connection with the Chattogram incident.

Hillol Sen Uzzal, general secretary of the Puja Udjapan Parishad in Chattogram, told The Daily Star that the incident shocked the local Hindu community and created a tense situation in the area. A video clip of the incident went viral on social media causing further outrage.

In a post on X, award-winning Bangladesh author Taslima expressed outrage over the incident. “Jihadis are singing Islami jihadi songs in Durga puja pandel in Chittagong Bangladesh. What if Hindus sing hare ram hare krishna during Namaz inside mosques?” Nasreen wrote on X.

The minority Hindu population — Hindus constitute just about 8 percent of the 170 million Bangladesh population — faced vandalism of their businesses, and properties and destruction of temples during the student-led violence that erupted following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5.