Perception of viewing Hindus as vote bank has shattered: Home Minister

The perception of viewing the Hindus as the vote bank of fascist forces has been shattered, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said on Friday.

He also said the country’s Hindu community had shattered in the 13th parliamentary election the misconception and myth that the fascist forces of the past considered them their vote bank.

The Home Minister made the remarks as the chief guest at a rally held on Friday afternoon before the Janmashtami procession. The rally was held at Palashi intersection in the capital.

After the rally, a procession began from Palashi intersection towards Victoria Park in Old Dhaka.

Speaking about voting in the 13th parliamentary election and helping the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) win, the Home Minister said, “We believe you have made your judgment. In the last election, you voted against the forces of evil. You will have a role in strengthening democracy and maintaining secularism in the future as well.”

The Home Minister also remarked that in the six months since the government took office, religious practices and religious freedom for people of all faiths have been ensured, which is visible.

“The Constitution of Bangladesh assigns the state the responsibility of ensuring the religious freedom to practise all religions, and the state will ensure it. It also says that there can be no discrimination on the basis of religion, and that the freedom of places of worship for followers of all religions and the freedom of those in charge of such places to establish places of worship have been ensured for religious freedom,” he added.

Commenting that it would have been better not to use the word ‘communal’ while talking about maintaining harmony, the Home Minister said, “We use the term communal harmony in a grammatical sense. This is because this term has become established in literature as something that must be maintained. It would have been better if we did not use the word communal. If we had said we would maintain social and religious harmony.”

“From today, we will say that we will maintain religious harmony. We will maintain social harmony and peace. No one needs to mention the term communal harmony anymore. It will be religious harmony, coexistence, and social peace and harmony. We will maintain harmony,” he stated.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed also urged citizens not to identify themselves as minorities anymore as free citizens of Bangladesh.

He said, “As free citizens of Bangladesh, none of you should identify yourselves as minorities. We hope that none of you will identify yourselves on the basis of religion; identify yourselves on the basis of citizenship.”

The rally, chaired by Gopal Chandra Debnath of the Mahanagar Sarbojanin Puja Committee, was also addressed by Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Ethnic Minority Affairs Bijon Kanti Sarker, Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Abdus Salam, Dhaka-7 MP Hamidur Rahman, Hindu Religious Welfare Trust Vice-Chairman Tapan Chandra Majumdar and senior lawyer Subrata Chowdhury, among others.