Will neither go beyond Constitution nor hurt religious sentiment: Home minister

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday said the government will neither go beyond the Constitution nor hurt people’s religious sentiment over the issue of installing the sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He said a discussion has been going on with the Islamist leaders over the issue.

“We want to say it clearly we won’t go beyond the Constitution. At the same time, we will not do anything hurting the religious sentiment of the people,” the home minister told the newspersons at the secretariat around 12:30pm today.

Asaduzzaman Khan said Awami League do not do politics being subservient. The discussion has begun and it will continue.

Leading Islamist leaders of Bangladesh held a discussion with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday night over the recent incidents arose centring the installation of the sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The religious leaders went to the home minister’s Dhanmondi residence around 9:30pm and held the discussion for around one hour.

The home ministry said 12 Islamists led by Mahmudul Hasan, chairman of Befaqul Madarishil Arabia Bangladesh (Befaq) joined the talks.

Asaduzzaman Khan said, “We’ve made advancements with the discussion. AS we’ve begun the discussion, you’ll get effective results soon as well. There will be discussion over the five points they (the Islamists) have proposed. We’ll not hurt religious sentiments. We’ll not do anything going beyond the Constitution.”

“We think a good environment has been created. They have agreed with us that none should vandalise or violate rule of law. They have asked us to be aware over negative propaganda on Facebook. The religious scholars said they would not stage demonstrations. They want to complete the talks through discussion on five points,” the home minister further said.

Kamal said the Islamic scholars have proposed to set up ‘minar’ in the name of Bangabandhu instead of the sculptures. The discussion is underway about what to be done. No decision has yet been made, he added.

The home minister said the discussion is also underway, when a newsperson asked him whether the construction work of Bangabandhu’s sculpture in Dolairpar, Dhaka will be stopped or it will be shifted to somewhere else.

He said it is not that anyone does ‘puja’ of the sculpture of Bangabandhu. The sculpture is made so that generations can remember him.

Earlier, Qawmi leaders in a meeting at Jatrabari Madrasa on 5 December proposed to hold discussions with prime minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior government officials on the issue of sculpture. Hefazat-e-Islam also made the same demand on 10 December.

Several religion-based organisations, including Hefazat-e-Islam, were protesting against the construction of sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dolairpar in the capital for the last few days. Amid this, miscreants vandalised an under-construction sculpture of Bangabandhu in Kushtia on 4 December night, stirring protests across the country.