No conspiracy based on religion or community will be allowed to succeed in Bangladesh, Information Minister M Zahir Uddin Swapan said on Friday, warning that any group that tried to exploit religious faith and practice for its own ends would be identified by ordinary people.
He was speaking as chief guest at the biennial conference of the Barishal district unit of the Puja Udjapan Parishad, a Hindu festival celebration council, held at the Barishal District Shilpakala Academy on Friday afternoon.
Zahir Uddin Swapan said Prime Minister Tareque Rahman had made clear that “religion belongs to each person, and the state belongs to all.” Any attempt to use followers of a religion, or to seize the state through religion, was communalism and against religion itself, he said. Whenever a group tried to turn religious faith and practice into a communal tool, devout people would immediately identify those doing so for gain.
The minister said the statements of political leaders were all meant for the welfare of the people. A party and its symbol would remain acceptable to the public only as long as people believed it served their welfare, he said.
Barishal City Corporation administrator Advocate Bilkis Akter Jahan Shirin, Zila Parishad administrator Akon Kuddusur Rahman, and local and central leaders of the Puja Udjapan committee attended as special guests. The meeting was chaired by the district Puja Udjapan committee president, Manik Lal Mukherjee.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report