Ctg puja parishad removes top officials for inviting group that performed Islamic song

The Chattogram metropolitan unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad has removed the unit's President Lion Ashish Bhattacharya, General Secretary Hillol Sen and permanently expelled its Joint General Secretary Sajal Dutta for inviting and allowing a group of performers to sing an Islamic song on stage at the Durga Puja mandap at JM Sen Hall in the port city.

A letter, signed by the Chattogram Puja Udjapan Parishad's Office Secretary Sachindra Nakh Baroi, was issued by the parishad mentioning the removal of the president and general secretary this afternoon (11 October).

At the same time, another letter, signed by Chattogram Puja Udjapan Parishad's President Lion Ashish Bhattacharya and General Secretary Hillol Sen, mentioned the removal of the joint general secretary.

In the letter mentioning the removal of president and general secretary, the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad strongly condemned the unwanted incident that occurred during a cultural event held at the JM Sen Hall premises Puja Mandap in Chattogram on 10 October.

2 arrested over Islamic song at Ctg Puja mandap

"The Hindu community was deeply hurt by this incident. The Puja Udjapan Parishad is calling for a judicial investigation into the incident and for those involved to be identified and brought to justice," wrote Basudeb Dhar, the council's president and Santosh Sharma, its general secretary in the letter. 

Sri Santosh Sharma, general secretary of the central committee of the Puja Udjapan Parishad, told TBS that the Chattogram Metropolitan Puja Committee has been relieved of their duties due to their negligence.

The Business Standard has obtained a copy of the letter that expelled the joint secretary, which said that Sajal was solely responsible for hurting the religious sentiment of the Hindu devotees as he invited and allowed the six members of Chattogram Cultural Academy to take the stage and perform an Islamic Dawah song during the cultural programme at the mandap in the city's Rahmatganj area yesterday evening (10 October).

That is why the Chattogram city unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad in an emergency meeting decided to expel Sajal permanently, reads the letter.

Earlier today, Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) confirmed that two people were detained for questioning in connection with the Islamic song performance at the Durga Puja mandap after their group received an invitation and permission from Sajal.

2 detained for questioning over Islamic song at Ctg Puja mandap

At a press briefing held at Dampara Police Lines, CMP Deputy Commissioner (DC - Crime and Operations) Md Roish Uddin said that the six Chattogram Cultural Academy members took the stage at around 7:30pm at the JM Sen Hall mandap and performed two Bengali songs — "Age Ki Sundor Din Kataitam" by Baul Shah Abdul Karim and "Shudhu Musolmaner Lagi Aseniko Islam" by Chowdhury Abdul Halim.

Tension rose as Hindu devotees present at the venue expressed displeasure over the second song, while a video of the performance went viral on Facebook soon after and sparked controversy.

DC Roish identified the two detainees as Shahidul Islam, 42, a teacher at Tanzimul Ummah Madrasah, and Md Nurul Islam, 34, a teacher at Darul Irfan Madrasah. Both were among the six cultural academy members who performed two songs on stage, he said, adding that the duo was taken into custody during raids last night.

"We are investigating whether this was an attempt to ignite a communal conflict. We are questioning the two detainees and working on taking the other performers into custody," said DC Roish.

Moreover, he said, police were looking for Sajal, who went into hiding right after the incident. "We are looking into their political affiliations and possible malicious intent, if there are any. Based on what we learn from interrogations, we will take further legal steps including filing a case," said the CMP official.

Islamic song at Ctg puja mandap draws criticism

Regarding the incident, Puja Udjapan Parishad General Secretary Hillol Sen yesterday evening told The Business Standard, "I wasn't present when the songs were performed. The group went on stage after Sajal Dutta spoke with them. We are discussing the matter."

When asked about rumours that the group forcibly took the stage, Hillol clarified that they performed with permission from Sajal but he and President Ashish were not informed.

Sajal Dutta has been unreachable in person and over the phone for comments since the incident.

Amid the many discussions regarding the video online, some were linking the group of performers with Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir. However, both Jamaat and Shibir have claimed that the musical group was not affiliated with them.

Chattogram Cultural Academy also denied any link with Jamaat or Shibir. It also rejected the allegations that they forcibly took the stage, stressing they were invited by Sajal to perform.