Yunus greets Hindus on Janmashtami; promises to promote interfaith harmony in Bangladesh
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh's interim government chief Muhammad Yunus on Monday met the country’s Hindu community and vowed to promote interfaith harmony as he hosted a reception for them coinciding with Janmashtami.
The minority Hindu population has faced vandalisation of their business and properties and devastation of Hindu temples in the students’ violence that ensued for days following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5.
"There can't be any divisions among people in our country. We are equal citizens. The interim government is determined to protect the rights of every citizen of the country," the chief adviser’s (CA) office quoted Yunus as saying.
According to the statement, Yunus expected to build Bangladesh “where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded”.
“Bangladesh is a large family where the responsibility of the government is to protect the rights of every citizen,” his office quoted him as saying on X.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Bashudeb Dhar, Ramkrishna Mission of Dhaka’s principal Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, and Hindu community leaders including Kajol Debnath and Monindra Kumar Nath were present during the meeting.
“We spoke with Professor Yunus for almost an hour and he said all Bangladeshis are members of a single family. We will eliminate any sense of communalism,” Dhar told PTI.
Yunus greeted the country’s Hindu community leaders and promised to promote interfaith harmony, the statement said.
The CA office statement said the Hindu leaders greeted Yunus on the auspicious occasion, saying they sought blessings of the Lord Sri Krishna for the harmony and prosperity of the nation and the interim government.
“Hindu leaders praised the Chief Adviser's recent comments at the Dhakeshwari Mandir, a sacred temple in Old Dhaka, saying it would help build a non-communal society in the country and ensure religious harmony in the society,” the statement read.
Simultaneously, they raised the issue of “Hindu property grabbing, including the land of Hindu temples”.
The reception came as tens of thousands of Hindus celebrated Janmashtami by rallying at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple and other temples and Hindu monasteries by singing Vedic hymns, kirtans and bhajans.
Janmashtami is a public holiday in Bangladesh to mark the birth celebration of Lord Krishna.
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Cummins doubtful for T20 World Cup? It's quite grey right now, says Aus head coach
Melbourne (PTI): Australia skipper Pat Cummins' chances of playing at next year's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka are "quite grey at the moment" as he battles a back stress issue that has affected his participation in the ongoing Ashes series against England.
Cummins returned to play the third Ashes Test in Adelaide after missing the opening two matches, picking up six wickets to help Australia clinch the series 3-0.
However, the Australian Test and ODI skipper will take no further part in the series and even his participation at the T20 World Cup is also uncertain. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh is Australia's T20I captain.
"Looking forward to the World Cup, whether he will be there or not, I can't really say. It's quite grey at the moment. We're hopeful," head coach Andrew McDonald was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.
The fast bowler was diagnosed with a lumbar stress reaction during Australia's tour of the West Indies in July. He underwent rehabilitation before being cleared for a carefully managed return in Adelaide.
"He's pulled up fine. He won't play any part in the rest of the series and that was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return," McDonald said.
"We were taking on some risk and people that reported on that would understand the risk associated with that rebuild. We've now won the series and that was the goal.
"So, to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something that we want to do and Pat's really comfortable with that," he added.
The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on February 7 across India and Sri Lanka with the summit clash set for March 8.
Australia's first match is on February 11 against Ireland at Colombo. Although Cummins captains the Test and ODI teams, all-rounder Mitch Marsh leads Australia in the shortest format.
