In a shocking incident, armed personnels from the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) went up to violate the international protocols and crossed the border to get into India’s Sribhumi district in Assam to stop the renovation of a Hindu temple. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Manasa. On 5th December, the armed BGB personnels without prior communication crossed the river and threatened the Indian labourers to stop the renovation work of the temple. The BGB contingent cited that the sight of Hindu temples in the Indian territory as offensive to them and hurt their sentiments as they are muslims.
The mandir, located on the banks of the Kushiyari River that demarcates the India-Bangladesh border, has existed for decades but had fallen into disrepair. Local BJP MP Kripanath Mallah recently allocated ₹3 lakh for its renovation, including the construction of a shikhar (spire) that would be visible from afar. Local Indian labourers were engaged in the renovation work when BGB guards intruded. The BGB personnels equipped with arms threatened the Indian labourers to shoot them if they resumed the construction of the temple. They brazened it out saying that this would be offensive to Bangladeshi Muslims, particularly those attending a mosque located across the river.
An eye witness on the incident said, “I saw the Bangladeshi personnel land and make their way to the mandir. I heard them telling the workers to stop all work. Some people who had gathered there wanted to know why. The BGB personnel then said that the mandir would be visible from across the river and would be offensive to Muslims. They said it was ‘haram’ for Muslims to see a place of idol-worship. The mandir, they said, would be easily visible to people who go to a masjid located across the river and setting eyes on a mandir from a masjid or after offering namaz there is haram in Islam.”
Locals, outraged by the intrusion, gathered to confront the BGB . The situation was defused when a BSF team arrived and firmly demanded the BGB retreat. The BSF reassured the local community that the renovation would proceed unhindered and increased security to protect the site and workers.
Sribhumi’s additional district commissioner, Uday Sankar Datta, confirmed that the administration is preparing a report for the state government and the security has been tightened to ensure the renovation continues without further disruptions.
This aggression by the BGB follows protests in Bangladesh over the recent renaming of the district from Karimganj to Sribhumi. The Assam government under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma has renamed Karimganj to Sribhumi in order to pay tribute to Nobel laureate Thakur Rabindranath Tagore who over a 100 years ago had described modern day Karimganj District in Assam as ‘Sribhumi’- the land of Maa Lakshmi. Following this, protests erupted in Zakiganj upazila of Bangladesh which lies across the border from Sribhumi lamenting that the recent name change was an insult to the muslim community across the world.
