Those who vandalised temples must face the music: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the people involved in vandalising Hindu temples must face exemplary punishment, calling upon all to work in unison and remain vigilant to stop recurrence of such heinous acts. 

 "We have already taken proper measures (against ransacking of Hindu temples). Those who carry out such incidents will definitely be traced out as we did in the past. Exemplary punishment will be given to them irrespective of their religions so that none can dare to do so in future," she said. 

The Prime Minister said this while exchanging greetings with leaders of the Hindu community being connected virtually with the Dhakeshwari National Temple marking the Sharodia Durga Puja from her official Ganabhaban residence here. 

Terming the incident of vandalising temples in Cumilla "very unfortunate", Sheikh Hasina said, "Massive investigation is going on into the matter. We're getting much information (regarding the incident). This is an era of technology and those involved in the incident will definitely be found out using the technology." 

The Prime Minister said the people irrespective of caste, creed and religion in Bangladesh celebrate all festivals together, adding, "Religion is for individuals and festival is for all and we enjoy every festival together." 

But, there are a few cliques who are out to destroy the spirit by staging some communal incidents, she said. 

"Some people are religiously blind and they always want to create communal conflicts. These people belong not only to the Muslim community, but also to all other religions. In that case, if we all work together, they can't commit any harm," she said. 

The Prime Minister said the Cumilla incident occurred at a time when the country was progressing towards development at full speed and it was aimed at hampering the journey of the nation's uplift and creating a problem in the country. 

"Those who can't earn the confidence and trust of the people and have no politics and ideology can commit such incidents," she added.

Principal of Ramkrishna Math and Ramkrishna Mission, Dhaka, Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, President of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Committee, Milon Kanti Dey and General Secretary of Maganagar Sarbojonin Puja Committee, Advocate Krishna Ranjan Mandol, spoke on the occasion. President of Maganagar Sarbojonin Puja Committee, Shree Shailendranath Majumder presided over the function while General Secretary of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Committee, Nirmol Kumar Chatterjee moderated it.