News Flash
RANGPUR, Dec 29, 2025 (BSS) – Religious Affairs Adviser Dr AFM Khalid Hossain today said that achieving the country’s desired development is not possible without an atmosphere of communal harmony.
“Communal harmony and tolerance are prerequisites for the development of a state. Social stability depends on communal harmony,” he said.
Dr Khalid made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the Rangpur District Workshop-2025, organised under the project titled ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals and Promoting Moral Education through Temple-Based Children and Mass Education Activities’, held at the District Shilpakala Academy auditorium in the city.
The workshop was organised by the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust under the Temple-Based Children and Mass Education Activities (6th Phase) project.
The Religious Affairs Adviser said, “We must move forward on the path of development together. If there is unrest or dissatisfaction, foreign investment will be hampered.”
He urged everyone to be open-minded and broaden their perspectives for the welfare of the country, the nation and all citizens.
“Violent incidents are being carried out under the pretext of insulting religion. Just as insulting religion is a punishable offence under the law, it is an even greater crime to illegally punish an individual or a community,” he said.
The adviser noted that many people take the law into their own hands. “They do not allow the legal process to run its course; instead, they beat people to death and burn them. In some cases, bodies are even exhumed from graves and set on fire,” he said.
“There must be a limit to brutality. If someone commits a crime, there are courts of law and law enforcement agencies. Let the poisonous fumes of communalism not destroy our peaceful life,” he added.
Dr Khalid called on everyone to be humane, put aside religious differences and unite for the greater good of the country and the nation.
Urging people to study their own religious scriptures, he said, “If we understand the teachings of our religions and reflect them in our lives, our lives will be enlightened.”
Deputy Director of the Local Government Department at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Mehedi Hasan, presided over the workshop.
Vice-chairman of the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust Shri Tapan Chandra Majumdar, Private Secretary to the Adviser (Joint Secretary) Sadek Ahmed, Project Director Nitya Prakash Biswas, Secretary of the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust Debendra Nath Urao, Superintendent of Police Md Marufat Hussaine and Hindu Religious Welfare Trust Trustee Paritosh Chakraborty attended the event as special guests.
Teachers of education centres, project officials and employees, district and upazila monitoring committee members, guardians, representatives of temples, Sanatan religious leaders, trustees and journalists were also present.
Under the project, 7,400 temple-based education centres, including 149 in Rangpur, are being operated across the country. Of these, 5,000 are pre-primary centres, 1,400 adult religious education centres and 1,000 children’s religious education centres.
Through these centres, around 222,000 students receive pre-primary and religious education every year.
