Non-communalism

File Picture The event was held on Friday

Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council demands the government to run the country in non-communal consciousness

Commenting that the 'poison' of communalism was sown in the country during the rule of Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad, he said the country's constitution has not yet been freed from the 'ghost' of Zia-Ershad even after the party that led the liberation war came to power.

He said this while distributing clothes at a function organized by Hindu Samajkalyan Parishad at KB Abduch Sattar Auditorium of Puraton Nagar Bhaban in Chittagong on Friday evening.

International Criminal Tribunal Prosecutor Rana Dasgupta said, "After the assassination of Bangabandhu and his family on 15 August 1975, Ziaur Rahman came to power and communalized the constitution in the style of the Pakistani constitution. In the same vein, General Ershad came to power and communalized the religion of the majority of the people by making it the state religion and incorporating it in the constitution."

"Its only goal is to turn religious and ethnic minorities into state minorities in Bangladesh in the style of Pakistan. Today a secular government has come, but the constitution of Bangladesh has not yet been freed from the ghosts of Ziaur Rahman and Ershad."

The veteran lawyer said, "The country's existing constitution has secularism as well as theocracy. The state has conspired to turn religious and ethnic minorities into state minorities like the Pakistani constitution. But we did not wage a war of liberation to survive as a minority in Bangladesh. All Bengalis have equal rights in Bangladesh."

He said, "We have achieved the independence of Bangladesh in exchange for the combined blood of all. At that time, there was no question of who is a Hindu, who is a Buddhist and who is a Muslim. His identity did not come to the fore. On the battlefield of the liberation war we ate rice together. We think religion is our sacred personal belief, but our first and foremost identity is that we are human."

Former Joint General Secretary of Chittagong North District Awami League Yunus Gani Chowdhury was the chief guest at the function presided over by Council Advisor Pritam Das.

Supervising Engineer of Chittagong City Corporation Jhulan Kumar Das, General Secretary of Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Parishad Chittagong Metropolitan Advocate Nitai Prasad Ghosh, General Secretary of Hathazari Dr. Ashok Dev, journalist Ruman Bhattacharya, women leader Rumki Sengupta and Ujjwal Chakraborty also spoke at the event.