Prime Minister at Rangpur's Radha Gobinda temple: greetings exchanged with priests as crowds line the streets
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has visited the puja pavilion of the Dharmadas Radha Gobinda temple after arriving in Rangpur to tour temples for the Sharodiya Durga Puja. He reached the temple around 12 noon and exchanged greetings and pleasantries with priests and devotees.
The prime minister came to the divisional city of Rangpur by road on a special bus via Saidpur airport in Nilphamari. In the post-independence period, this is the first time a head of government has come to visit a Durga temple in Rangpur outside the capital — giving the visit special local significance.
Accompanied by several central leaders, the prime minister came to the Dharmadas Radha Gobinda temple, located in front of the Press Club in Rangpur city. There he exchanged greetings and pleasantries with the priests and devotees.
After the Radha Gobinda temple, he is due to visit the adjacent Kali temple and then travel back by road towards Saidpur airport. Finishing the Rangpur leg, the programme for the next destination will begin from there.
Long lines of people stood on both sides of the city's streets to see the prime minister up close. From his moving convoy, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman also waved greetings back to the people of Rangpur — a scene that spread enthusiasm across the city on the festival day.
Meanwhile, several layers of security were arranged across the city for the prime minister's visit. The city was decorated with banners, festoons and various adornments, and the combined mood of festival and state visit gave the city a distinctive air.
In particular, the two temples visited by the prime minister were wrapped in a blanket of security by members of the law-enforcement forces, including police, BGB, SRB and the army. The tight security was maintained even amid the movement of ordinary devotees in the temple area.
Earlier the same morning, on his way to Rangpur, came the selfies with students in Saidpur and the gifts of sports equipment, and at Paglapir his street-rally pledge that "the desired Bangladesh will be built with people of all faiths together" — many see the temple visit as a continuation of that same message of harmony.
Under the rest of the day's programme, the prime minister will travel from Rangpur via Saidpur airport by air to Rajshahi; after the Rajshahi programme he is due to visit the JM Sen Hall puja pavilion in Chittagong in the evening and return to Dhaka at night.
The prime minister's temple visit in the final phase of the Durga festival drew special interest among Rangpur's Hindu community as well. Local people expect the head of government's presence at the puja pavilion to further strengthen the festival's security and atmosphere of harmony.
For now, with the Rangpur leg completed smoothly, the prime minister's convoy is on its way to Saidpur — and all eyes are on the remaining two divisions' programmes of the day. This one-day, three-division tour will end with his return to Dhaka at night.
