CHATTOGRAM, – Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said no religion supports conflicts created among the people because of misinterpretations of religions.
“The message of all religions is serving the people and creating harmony among them. The country as well as the whole world will be peaceful if we practice our respective religions upholding the messages in our minds,” he said, addressing a discussion marking the Saptami of the Sharodiya Durga Puja at JM Sen Hall in the city last night.
Hasan, also Awami League publicity and publication secretary, said: “We want to take the country to our dreamt position with collective efforts of all people from all faiths, including the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Christians, like our ancestors who gave birth to a green flag embedded with a red sun”.
Commitment of today’s Saptami discussion should be to take the country to the highest position by consolidating the existing communal harmony further, he added.
Assistant Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anindya Banerjee delivered the welcome speech in the discussion with Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad (BPUP) Chattogram City Committee President Advocate Chandan Talukder in the chair.
Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Panel Mayor Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hasani, Chattogram University (CU) English Department Chairman Sukanta Bhattacharjee, Trustee of Hindu Dharmiya Kalyan Trust Rakhal Das Gupta, Ranguniya Upazila AL General Secretary Engineer Shamsul Alam Talukder, Vice-President of Mahanagar Puja Udjapan Parishad Layan Dilip Ghosh, General Secretary Prokash Das Asit and Advocate Nikhil Kumar Nath addressed the discussion as special guests.
Dr Hasan said Bangladesh was born under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to emerge as a non-communal state. “We, who do politics of AL, are Bangali at first and then comes our religious identity. But there is a section of people in our country who consider religion first as their identity and then they suffer from a dilemma whether they are Bangali or Bangladeshi. It is the basic difference between us and them,” he added.
However, Bangladesh has become successful to build communal harmony with efforts of all Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians, the minister said.
