Lower caste Hindus decide not to celebrate Durga Puja
Underprivileged scheduled caste people belonging to Hindu community at Berakuti Barua village under Sonarai union of Nilphamari Sadar upazila have decided not to celebrate the upcoming Durga Puja amid threat from land grabbers.
“Dilip Chandra, 35, of our village and his associate Md Potoluddin instigated by land grabber Md Moddin, occupied 14 decimals of puja mandop land out of 21 decimals and build houses there a few months ago. Falsely claiming that the entire area belongs to them, he told us to shift the mandop or suffer dire consequences,” said Nitya Rishi, president of local puja celebration committee.
“Our mandop is situated on a government's khas land and we've filed petition to the Sadar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) for allocation of the property for the mandop,” he said.
Sujon Baishya, secretary of the puja committee, said land grabbers recently filed false cases with the court against hired sculptors and some puja committee members, compelling the sculptors to flee, leaving earthen statues of gods and goddesses incomplete.
“In this situation we've decided not to celebrate Durga Puja scheduled to start on October 15,” he said.
Babu Ashwini Kumar, former chairman of Sonarai Union Parishad, said land grabber Dilip Chandra is accused in several cases including those for drug trade and oppression on women and children.
“Seeking safety for the sculptures as well as local Hindus and steps to free the mandop land from grabbers, we filed a petition to the Sadar UNO last week," said Ananda Hazara, a scheduled caste Hindu.
The UNO directed the union's assistant land officer to investigate the matter and the latter after investigation ordered the occupants to vacate the land within three days but it was ignored,” he said.
Asked about the allegations, Dilip Chandra said, “The real owner of the land was late Puron Chadnahata. He donated the land to my grandfather Satish Chandra after the partition of 1947 and then migrated to India.”
But Dilip could not show any document in favour of his claim.
Sadar UNO Md Mamun Bhuyan said, “We've taken all out measures to ensure safety of the sculptures and devotees so that they can celebrate the religious festival peacefully. After the puja, we'll take step to allocate the 21-decimal land in favour of the mandop committee.”
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