KOLKATA: People from different walks of life, including prominent personalities in the state, on Monday condemned and protested against the vandalism at Durga Puja pandals and temples in Bangladesh. Eminent personalities, including educationists, theatre personalities, writers, film actors, directors, and political leaders issued an appeal to the Sheikh Hasina government to track those involved in the vandalism and punish the guilty.
In the open letter, over 60 signatories pointed out with regret that "members of Hindu community" in Bangladesh could not celebrate their biggest festival Durga Puja smoothly in many places in the wake of incidents of attack and untoward incidents at different Durga Puja pandals."
"Certainly a bigger disaster has been averted by the prompt response of Bangladesh government and police, but the attempt by forces opposed to the liberal, non-communal thinking of Bangobondhu, illuminated by the 71 liberation war, has disturbed the conscious people, who are believers of humanity,"the letter read.
The signatories include educationist Pabitra Sarkar, former Kolkata Mayor Bikash Bhattachary, theatre personality Deb Shankar Halder, writer Nabakumar Basu, theatre personality Koushik Sen, filmmaker Kamaleswar Mukhopadhyay, actors Parambrata Chatterjee, Riddhi Sen, Ritwik Chakroborty,
among others.
Meanwhile, protests were staged in the city on Monday.
"We protested peacefully outside the Academy of Fine Arts. We want that the culprits who have placed a copy of the Quran at a Durga Puja pandal in Bangladesh to disturb the communal harmony should be punished immediately," said Shadab Masoom, secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Bengal.
The protestors carried placards urging people to keep calm and not to fall into any trap laid by political parties. Not mentioning the name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), professor Amanul Haque, a protestor, said: "This is a conspiracy hatched by the saffron party ahead of elections in Tripura and a few constituencies in Bengal. We want the minorities of both India and Bangladesh to live peacefully."
He claimed that the violence during Durga Puja in Bangladesh on Friday is part of a systematic attack on religious minority
groups.
The saffron party will take advantage of the situation and try to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bengal.
Meanwhile, the state government has alerted its district administrations against the misuse of social media and circulation of fake news related to the recent spate of attacks Bangladesh.