Several pandals, temples and business establishments were vandalised by miscreants in at least 22 districts across the country in the last couple of days during Durga Puja. The latest incidents were reported from Noakhali district on Friday where the unruly mob also vandalised a temple leaving a devotee stabbed dead. The local administration imposed Section-144 on Saturday to prevent untoward incidents in Begumganj area. Earlier, four people were killed and several others injured after clashes broke out between a mob and the police in Chandpur district on Wednesday following reports of the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja pandal in Cumilla. Issuing a stern warning to those involved in the vandalism, government high-ups on Thursday said the perpetrators will be punished and the incidents in Cumilla will be thoroughly investigated. The authorities deployed BGB members in 22 districts after reports of unrest started coming from places including Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar.
What emerges from the government’s statement and its administrative measures is that – there was communal unrest in many districts for which some valuable lives were lost. The number of injured persons and the total value of damaged properties are yet to be known. We had witnessed several incidents of communal unrest in our country at different times.
But attacks on pandals and temples during Durga Puja, the main religious festival of Hindu community, are too rare. This type of incident had occurred first in the country in 1974 when the Hindu community protested prematurely immersing the Durga idols before Dashami. This time, they have registered their protests halting fanfares and celebrations and staging sit-in programmes at the pandals and temples. The Puja Udjapan Parishad also called a hartal. Several cases were lodged and some persons have been nabbed by the law enforcers in connection with the incidents. But this is not enough to get a clue who is doing what. The problems emerge but the government cannot think of any solution other than depending on police. That is not governance. There was no anticipation about the mischief and not knowing how to stop the spread of such incidents.
Our suspicion is the incidents are not motivated by communalism. Something more vicious might have been at work. When the government itself is disorganised and everybody is master of himself regarding to public matters what happens anybody’s guess.
