Geetha Patil
New England: The Hindu, Buddhist Christian Unity Council of New England organized a peace protest On the l morning of October 24, 2021 to condemn the terrorists who killed the minority Hindu people and vandalized ISKCON temple and the number of houses in many districts of Bangladesh at Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.
A good number of peace protesters assembled with their posters saying, ‘Save Bangladeshi Hindu Temples’, ‘Stop Violence Against Hindus’ ‘Bangladeshi Hindus are Helpless’ and many more.
The peace demonstration started with a Bhajan and chanting of Mantras by the ISKCON priest Hemasharir Dasa. Then more than 2 dozen speakers presented brief speeches in which they expressed their anger against the continued incidents of communal violence against the minority communities in Bangladesh and demanded rigorous actions from the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
One of the protestors said, “Hindus have been abused in Bangladesh for a long time, and abuse and attacks are occurring over and over without any break. Therefore, we demand that the culprits of the attack shall be caught at the earliest and justice should be served. We also call for the Bangladeshi government to provide security to Hindus and other minority groups.”
Reporter spoke to another protestor, who said ‘no strict measures have been taken yet to ensure the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue with his Bangladeshi counterpart and discuss the matter immediately and help the helpless Hindus in Muslim majority countries.’
The peace demonstration went on for more than two hours. Speechesgiven by Bishawjit Saha, Robin Das, Pankaj Das, Suhas Baruya, Amal Das, Ananda Saha, Anukul Biswas, Manoz Kumar, Ashik Das, Shiplu Saha, Sanjay Biswas, Gopal Bapari, Hemasharir Das, Ranjan Saha, Arjun Baidya, Lima Baruya, Shemul Baruya, and Vanu Das were very enlightening about the situation of Hindus and minorities in Bangladesh.
At the end, Robin Das thanked all the attendees and speakers for their support and standing in solidarity with their efforts. The program was concluded by saying Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi!