Bangladesh draws end of Durga puja with idol immersion

Thousands of minority Hindus today held colourful street marches, carrying the deities to take part in the ritual of idol immersion, drawing the end of the five day-long Durga puja festival, the most popular Hindu festival in Bangladesh.
The capital witnessed convoys of a huge number of trucks and cars carrying the deities and the devotees, with the largest one beginning from the Dhakeswari Temple to the Buriganga River, where rituals ended with idol immersions.
"We have concluded our festival peacefully. It appeared to be a festival of the entire country," Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council president Kajal Debnath told PTI.

He added: "We convey our thanks to the entire countrymen for their cooperation. In particular we are thankful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the members of the law enforcement agencies as they extended their all out and sincere support for the celebration."
President Abdul Hamid earlier hosted a reception for the representatives of the Hindu community at the Bangabhaban presidential palace while Hasina visited the Dhakeswari temple and the Ramkrishna Mission pavilions to greet the devotees.
"Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony and people of all religions are practicing their respective religious rite and social programmes peacefully and amid fanfare. The faiths belong to their respective followers but the festival belongs to all," a presidential palace spokesman quoted Hamid as saying at the reception late yesterday.

The premier earlier urged the Bangladeshi Hindus to live in the soil with a sense of ownership as "we have confirmed the rights of every religion in the Constitution".

"You have been born on this soil. You are the children of this soil. You live on this soil," she told the devotees at the Dhakeswari temple, adding "people of all religions have equal rights to live in Bangladesh".
But the festivity was partly marred as masked miscreants attacked a temple and desecrated at least six idols at northwestern Natore earlier today, sparking public anger and prompting authorities to promise swift action.

Witnesses said unidentified miscreants entered a temple last night and fled the scene immediately after desecrating the temple at the remote Gurudashpur area of the district.
This was the second such incident in two days after a nearly identical incident at Barisal, but police said they have tracked down seven of the culprits.
Hindu leaders have so far reported 18 small incidents of vandalism where the miscreants damaged idols.
"We, however, consider those as isolated incidents. The festivity this year was inclusive," Debnath said.
Hindus are the second largest population group in the country, however their numbers are decreasing continuously.

According to the 1951 census, Hindus were 22 per cent of the population, in 1974 the figure came down to 14 per cent and the last 2011 census suggests the followers of the Hindu faith constituted only 8.4 per cent of the population.