BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday exchanged greetings with members of the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja by visiting Dhakeshwari Central Puja mandap.

On Behalf of BNP, he went to the temple and greeted the devotees in the evening.

"I’ve come here, on behalf of the BNP, to exchange pleasantries with you on the occasion of Durga Puja. We know this time you’ve to perform the ritual of the puja amid many restrictions due to Covid-19. You’re also unable to celebrate the puja with much enthusiasm.”

The BNP leader said Goddess Durga appeared on earth to defeat the demons and stood up against injustice, to establish truth by dispelling untruth. “We also have to fight against that injustice and untruth to establish justice.”

Expressing solidarity with the Hindu community, he said the people of Bangladesh are non-communal and they used to live in peace maintaining religious harmony. “In Bangladesh, we the Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians, have been living together for ages.  We all are living in this country holding the Liberation War’s spirit of democracy.

As Fakhrul arrived at the Dhakeswari Central Puja Mandap, Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Udjapan Committee general secretary Kishore Ranjan Mandal along with other leaders received him.

Fakhrul stayed there for some time and talked to the devotees.

Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, began on Thursday with Maha Sashthi puja at temples across the country maintaining health guidelines set by the government to contain the corona spread.

A mood of festivities persists among the devotees irrespective of ages marking the festival as adequate security measures have already been taken in the puja pandals across the country.

The five-day of the festival starts with 'Bodhon' of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi while the festival will come to an end with the immersion of the idols of the Goddess Durga in nearby rivers and water bodies across the country on Tuesday.