NCP pledges to recover the encroached land of Dhakeshwari Temple

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has promised to take the initiative to recover the encroached land of Dhaka's Dhakeshwari Temple. The party's chief coordinator, Nasiruddin Patwary, said they will call on the current government to move quickly to reclaim the land, and that if the party comes to power in future it will make every effort to recover the temple land.

He made the remarks at a briefing on Monday morning (October 19) after exchanging Durga Puja greetings at the Dhakeshwari Temple. Party leaders visited the country's biggest temple during the festival and sat with the temple authorities, where the land-grabbing issue dominated the discussion.

NCP member secretary and MP Akhtar Hossain said the party conveys its greetings to everyone on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of Bangladesh's Hindu community. Bangladesh, he said, is a country of harmony, and the party wants to build a harmonious Bangladesh with people of all faiths—Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim.

Akhtar Hossain said people of all religions took part together in every democratic struggle of the country, from the Liberation War of 1971 to the mass uprising of 2024. He said they remember Riyad, a Hindu martyr of the 2024 uprising, along with the other martyrs, and pray for the peace of their souls.

He said they do not want any untoward incident in Bangladesh during Durga Puja, although such incidents have happened at various times in the past. From August 5 to 8 in 2024, when no government was functioning in the country, ordinary people ensured their own security themselves. Regardless of religion or caste, people stood up for the rights of others and guarded the temples.

Nasiruddin Patwary said several important issues came up in the day's discussion. A huge amount of this temple's land has been encroached upon. Although the matter was raised in many places, many promised to recover the land once in power, but in reality that never happened.

He said the temple authorities have stated that they are ready to give up the portion occupied by BUET in the interest of the educational institution. But they need the rest of the temple land, because much work remains to be done there. 'We call on the current government to take steps to recover the land quickly. If, with your prayers, we come to power in future, we too will try our utmost to recover it,' he said.

Referring to the long-running movement over eight-point demands, he said the discussion raised the Vested Property Act and the grabbing of land belonging to members of the Hindu community because of their religious identity. 'We do not want to give the encroachers any party identity; their identity is that they are wrongdoers. This evil force must be resisted,' he said.

Patwary added that they will work to ensure that in future no one can grab the land of any Hindu brother or sister. They will raise the issue in various forums outside parliament and will be partners in the community's movement, he promised.

Political council member and MP Nusrat Tabassum said, 'We recognise the right to festivals. We wish that a festival as big as Durga Puja remains free of any untoward incident.' She added that they are always beside the community and conveyed greetings of Shubha Ashtami to everyone again.

Also present were NCP political council member Sarwar Tushar and joint member secretary Pritam Das, among others.