DHAKA (AA) – Millions of Bengali Hindus began on Thursday celebrating the five-day Durga Puja, a major annual festival marked across South Asia, at temples in Dhaka and elsewhere across the Muslim-majority country.
"The aim of our Durga Puja is the extinction of evil force and the victory of good forces for the welfare of the mankind," Nirmal Chatterjee, the general secretary of Dhaka City Sarbajonin Puja Committee, told Anadolu Agency.
Some 28,000 Durga Puja podiums, temporary structures set up for religious ceremonies and known locally as Puja Mandap, have been erected in villages, towns and cities across Bangladesh.
Chatterjee said thousands of people visit the puja podiums every day during the festival.
Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhry, the National Parliament Speaker, inaugurated the annual festival in Dhakeshwari National Temple, the most important Hindu place of worship in Bangladesh.
"We should work united to establish a non-communal Bangladesh through friendly and amicable situation and bindings between Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian," he said.
Dhakeswari Temple is the main attraction for Hindu devotees in the capital Dhaka.
In separate messages on the eve of the festival, President Mohammad Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina conveyed their greetings to Bengali Hindus community.
Durga Puja is the largest religious festival for Hindus who constitute around 8 percent of Bangladesh's nearly 150 million people.
