Hill Voice, 1 October 2023, Dhaka: Today in the morning (on October 1), at a press conference held in the Zahur Hosain Chowdhury Auditorium of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikyo Parishad and Oikyomorcha (united alliance) of religious ethnic minority community, under the leadership of the Parishad, have announced that it will hold a mass grand meeting at historic Suhrawardy Uddyan on 4th November 2023, at 2 pm, cancelling the previous decision of holding it on 6 October at the same venue.
Simultaneously, it has also been announced from the conference that next Friday (6 October 2023) at 4 pm, rally and procession will be held at National Press Club premises in Dhaka along with all metropolitan, district and upazila levels across the country, to demand immediate implementation of the ruling party’s promises.
The General Secretary of Oikyo Parishad and the Chief Coordinator of Oikyormocha Adv. Rana Dasgupta read out the written statement. He said, the Election Commission has already announced the 12th National Parliamentary Election to be held in the first week of January next year. That is, there are only three months left for the parliamentary elections. As the election approaches, the religious and ethnic minorities of the country are in serious concern as the independent sovereign Bangladesh gained through the liberation war has become a diplomatic battleground of the superpowers. We are worried at the unwanted interference of some imperialist superpowers in the internal affairs of Bangladesh and the support and patronage of anti-independence forces like during the liberation war of 1971. In the context of the fact, we expect the conscious attention of the patriotic people of all walks of life regardless of caste and religion. We hope that all the political parties of our country will come forward to play a more responsible role in the interest of the country and nation and to continue the course of democracy and development in the future.
Prof. Dr. Nimchandra Bhowmik, one of the presidents of Oikyo Parishad, presided over the press conference. Vice-president of Bangladesh Puja Celebration Parishad and president of Metropolitan mass Puja Committee Monindra Kumar Nath, vice President of Jagannath Hall Alumni Association Milon Kanti Dutta, Former General Secretary of Dhaka University Alumni Association Ranjan Karmakar, Executive Secretary General of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mahajot Palash Kanti Dey, President of Bangladesh Chapter of World Hindu Federation Barun Chandra Sarkar, President of Sharadanjali Forum Ratan Chandra Pal, Central Leader of Oikyo Parishad Swapna Biswas, Adv. Apurba Bhattacharya, Supriya Bhattacharya, Subir Dutta, Bappaditya Basu, Manju Rani Pramanik spoke among others in the event.
At the press conference, thanks and gratitude were expressed to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for refraining from giving any political program during the approaching Sharadiyo Durga Puja on October 20-24 at the call of Oikyo Parishad.
