The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has courted controversy for serving beef (gorur mangsho) to 20-odd Hindu party members, who were invited to an Iftar party held on Thursday (April 28) evening.
The event was organised by the Sylhet unit of BNP at the Kushiara International Convention Hall in Chondipul in Dakshin Surma in the Sylhet district. As per reports, the attendees confirmed that the meals were kept in front of each chair even before the start of the Iftar party.
The dishes included beef curry, chole, onion fritters, dates and potato cutlet (aloo chop). A total of 20 Hindu party members and leaders were invited to the event. Besides, several non-Muslim journalists were also present to cover the Iftar party. However, no alternate arrangements were made for them.
Instead, they were also served beef curry like the Muslim members of the party. As a result, the Hindu invitees didn’t eat the served meal. Several Hindu leaders of the BNP expressed their discontentment during the event. Many labelled the treatment meted out to them as ‘downright communal.’ Some party members also took to Facebook to display their angst.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, Montu Nath, wrote, “You guys (Muslims) enjoyed your Iftar while the Sanatan Dharma followers stood there as spectators. There was no arrangement for food to be served to non-Muslims during the BNP event in Sylhet.”
“Were the arrangements not made because we don’t observe fast during Ramzan or step out of our houses after having our meals.. I don’t know if there has been a change in the definition of ‘harmony’ and coexistence. We are the followers of erstwhile President Ziaur Rahman and we are here to stay,” he added.
Montu Nath said that the party could have tasked the party’s non-Muslim members to make alternate arrangements on their own. “It would have saved us from embarrassment in front of our friends, family and juniors… We were left there to swallow only air as Iftar feast,” he concluded.
A similar message was shared on Facebook by another Hindu leader of BNP, Konok Kanti Das.
In his defence, BNP secretary (Sylhet) Miftah Siddiqui claimed that the incident was unintentional. “This gaffe took place while organising the event in haste. It was not deliberate. I express grief over the mishappenings,” he said.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in cahoots with the radical Jamaat-e-Islaami, have been involved in attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh. During the 2021 Durga Puja violence, Bangladeshi Minister M Hasan Mahmud blamed BNP and pro-Pakistani elements for the outbreak of communal violence in the country.
Bangladesh hotel manager arrested for serving beef to Hindu customers
A hotel manager named Manzoor Ahmed was arrested in Bangladesh and sent to police custody for serving beef to Hindu customers, despite instructions to the contrary. The incident took place on Wednesday (April 27) in the New Chaktai area, which falls under the jurisdiction of Bakalia police station, in the Chittagong district of Bangladesh.
As per a report in Chattogram Pratidin, a Hindu man named Supan Pal had gone to a restaurant named ”Dubai Restro and Biriyani House’ to celebrate his birthday party. He was accompanied by 12 of his friends.
Given that it was a Muslim-owned restaurant, Supan had made it clear to the waiters to not serve them beef. As such, he had ordered chicken biriyani for his friends. Halfway through their dinner, Supan’s friend Suman Pal (45) realized that they were served beef by the restaurant.
Supan solicited the truth from the waiter by asking him a trick question. “On inquiring whether the meat was fresh, the waiter informed that the restaurant owner had slaughtered a cow in the morning and as such the meat was fresh. It was then we realized that the restaurant fooled us (hurt our Faith) by serving beef with chicken,” he added.
When Supan and his friends confronted the restaurant manager Mohammed Manzoor Ahmed (45), they were treated with indignation. A case was filed by Suman against Manzoor, waiters Mohammed Kareem (35), and Mohammed Babu (27) at the Bakalia police station.
While Kareem and Babu have been absconding since the incident, the police have arrested Mohammed Manzoor Ahmed. He was produced before a local court, following which Manzoor was remanded to police custody.
