Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Adviser has said that beards were placed on demon effigies at 793 Durga Puja pavilions across the country this year, in what he described as an attempt to disrupt communal harmony.
He confirmed that the authorities have identified several individuals involved in the act, and a General Diary (GD) has been filed with the police. Legal action will be taken against those responsible, he added.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday after a meeting of the Law and Order Core Committee at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said, “The fascists and their associates attempted to provoke communal unrest and violence by attaching beards to the faces of demon idols in several puja mandaps. Some so-called fascist intellectuals also encouraged this act. But their conspiracy has failed. Like previous years, Durga Puja has been celebrated peacefully, safely, and festively across the country.”
According to the Dhaka Metropolitan Puja Committee and the National Puja Celebration Council, a total of 33,355 Durga Puja mandaps were set up across Bangladesh this year.
The adviser expressed gratitude to the army, law enforcement agencies, the general public, and the media for their role in ensuring peace and awareness during the festival.
He also said, “The recent attempts to destabilize the Chattogram Hill Tracts under the pretext of rape allegations, and the move to create communal tension by adding beards to demon faces during Durga Puja, were clearly supported by the allies of fascist forces. Evidence of this has already come to light.”
Referring to recent media reports about a Durga Puja mandap in India’s West Bengal, where a demon effigy allegedly resembled Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said, “We have learned that in a neighboring country, our Chief Adviser was insultingly portrayed during idol-making. The act of adding beards to demon faces here appears to be linked to that incident. However, due to the vigilance of our law enforcement agencies, intelligence monitoring, and the cooperation of local Puja committees, we have successfully foiled this malicious plot.”
When asked by a journalist about India’s response — claiming that Bangladesh’s interim government was blaming New Delhi for its own law enforcement failures — the adviser responded, “As a Bangladeshi, you should ask yourself who is truly responsible for this incident.”
