Yunus greets Hindus on Janmashtami; promises to promote interfaith harmony in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Bangladesh's interim government chief Muhammad Yunus on Monday met the country’s Hindu community and vowed to promote interfaith harmony as he hosted a reception for them coinciding with Janmashtami.

The minority Hindu population has faced vandalisation of their business and properties and devastation of Hindu temples in the students’ violence that ensued for days following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5.

"There can't be any divisions among people in our country. We are equal citizens. The interim government is determined to protect the rights of every citizen of the country," the chief adviser’s (CA) office quoted Yunus as saying.

According to the statement, Yunus expected to build Bangladesh “where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded”.

“Bangladesh is a large family where the responsibility of the government is to protect the rights of every citizen,” his office quoted him as saying on X.

Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Bashudeb Dhar, Ramkrishna Mission of Dhaka’s principal Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, and Hindu community leaders including Kajol Debnath and Monindra Kumar Nath were present during the meeting.

“We spoke with Professor Yunus for almost an hour and he said all Bangladeshis are members of a single family. We will eliminate any sense of communalism,” Dhar told PTI.

Yunus greeted the country’s Hindu community leaders and promised to promote interfaith harmony, the statement said.

The CA office statement said the Hindu leaders greeted Yunus on the auspicious occasion, saying they sought blessings of the Lord Sri Krishna for the harmony and prosperity of the nation and the interim government.

“Hindu leaders praised the Chief Adviser's recent comments at the Dhakeshwari Mandir, a sacred temple in Old Dhaka, saying it would help build a non-communal society in the country and ensure religious harmony in the society,” the statement read.

Simultaneously, they raised the issue of “Hindu property grabbing, including the land of Hindu temples”.

The reception came as tens of thousands of Hindus celebrated Janmashtami by rallying at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple and other temples and Hindu monasteries by singing Vedic hymns, kirtans and bhajans.

Janmashtami is a public holiday in Bangladesh to mark the birth celebration of Lord Krishna.