Being Bangladeshi matters more than religious identity: Tarique Rahman
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said all citizens of Bangladesh enjoy equal rights regardless of their religious identity, stressing that being Bangladeshi matters more than belonging to a majority or minority community.
“Majority or minority is not the issue. The only thing that matters is that you are Bangladeshi,” he said on Tuesday (20 October) while visiting the JM Sen Hall puja mandap in the port city on the occasion of Durga Puja.
The Prime Minister said the law must apply equally to everyone and the state must ensure equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of their religions.
He said people of different faiths fought together in the 1971 War of Liberation without distinguishing between Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.
“We did not see who was Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. We only saw people fighting for the War of Liberation. They wanted to free the country, and they did,” Tarique Rahman said.
He said people from different religious and social backgrounds also joined hands in subsequent movements to restore democracy and establish people's rights, including the right to speak freely and vote.
Referring to the July 2024 mass uprising, the Prime Minister said millions of people, including students, women, children and people of different ages, took to the streets across the country to oust the authoritarian government.
“None of us asked whether the person who was shot was Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian,” he said, adding that people helped the injured and took them to hospitals without asking about their religious identity.
Tarique Rahman said doctors did not decide how to treat patients based on their religions either.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I am standing before you today as the Prime Minister to say that this country is yours, this country is mine, and this country belongs to all of us. Whether we are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Christians, we are all Bangladeshis,” he said.
“Religion is our personal matter. But every one of us is a Bangladeshi. Our sole identity is not our religion; our identity is that we are citizens of Bangladesh,” the Prime Minister added.
He referred to his 17 years in London, saying though he belongs to the Muslim majority in Bangladesh, he was part of a minority community while living in the United Kingdom.
“Would I have been part of the majority in London, where people of other religions are more numerous? I was a minority there. So, majority or minority is not the issue. The only thing that matters is that you are Bangladeshis,” Tarique Rahman said.
He said the common goal since 1971 has been to build a Bangladesh where everyone can live peacefully and in harmony. The same aspiration, he said, inspired those who sacrificed their lives during the War of Liberation, democratic movements and the 2024 uprising.
“Let us all work together to build a Bangladesh we aspire to, for which people have shed their blood at different times, regardless of party, opinion, religion or ethnicity,” the Prime Minister said.
He sought the cooperation of people of all faiths in building that Bangladesh, saying the country cannot achieve its goals without their collective efforts.
At the beginning of the programme, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad's Chattogram Metropolitan unit President Arpan Kanti Banerjee welcomed the Prime Minister, saying no head of government had visited the venue before.
He said members of the Hindu community felt anxious after August 5, 2024, but BNP leaders stood beside them, and no communal violence occurred in Chattogram.
Arpan said the Hindu community loves Bangladesh and wants to live in a non-communal environment.
He thanked the government for extending the Durga Puja holiday and called for turning the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust into a foundation.
Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, BNP Standing Committee Member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, BNP acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Cultural Affairs Minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury and Prime Minister's Special Assistant Bijon Kanti Sarkar also spoke at the programme.
Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Sachia Pru, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Mir Shahe Alam, State Minister for Land and CHT Affairs Mir Mohammed Helal Uddin, BNP Special Secretary Belayet Hossain Mridha and Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Dr Sahadat Hossain, among others, were present.
Source: UNB