Thakurgaon Hindus again protest Iscon activities
Local Hindus block Thakurgaon-Panchagarh highway on Friday demanding steps to free Rashik Roy Jew Temple at Madarganj village in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila from 'illegal occupation' of Iscon followers. Photo: STAR
Local Hindus barricaded Thakurgaon-Panchagarh highway at Kochubari Board Office area in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila on Friday demanding steps to free Rashik Roy Jew Temple at Madarganj village in the upazila from the followers of International Society for Krishno Consciousness (Iscon). Tension between the two groups over control of the temple has become a matter of concern in the area, especially against the backdrop of an earlier bloody clash. A good number of vehicles got stranded on both sides as the demonstrators during Friday's programme put wooden logs on the road and kept lying there for two hours. At a protest rally held under the banner of 'Auliapurbashi' on the same spot, the community leaders said the executive committee of the temple had been supervising the temple premises since 1996 when local Hindus recovered 32 acres of land belonging to the temple from grabbers. "The Iscon followers first came to the temple on August 2 in 2009 and started staying there. Ignoring the temple committee's notice to leave the place, they announced a darmasabha (religious gathering) at the temple on September 4 and tried to establish a branch of the organisation there," Arunagshu Datta, district unit president of Puja Udjapan Parishad, told this correspondent. "On September 18 in 2009 a group of Iscon men stormed the house of Prafulla Chandra, president of Rashik Roy Jeu temple, and injured 15 people staying there. "One of the victims, Fulbabu, 27, brother of Prafulla Chandra, died at Rangpur Medical College Hospital the same day. "Then the upazila administration took control of the temple and handed over its key to the chairman of Auliapur union parishad," he said. On January 31 this year, the Iscon followers broke the locks of the temple and occupied it, said temple committee men and locals. Local administration officials led by Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Touhidul Islam went to the spot and asked the Iscon men to leave the temple but they continued staying there in the name of observing dharmasava. When contacted, UNO Touhidul Islam said, "We are trying to resolve the matter peacefully through discussion with both sides." Forces have been deployed to avert any untoward situation, said Gopal Chakraborti, officer in charge of Thakurgaon police station. Contacted, the chief of Gorea Iscon Temple Pushposhila in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila said over cell phone, "The allegation of occupying the temple is baseless. Discussion is on with the administration and we are setting up a makeshift stage to observe puja."
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