Islamic song performed at Durga Puja event at organiser’s request: CMP

The group of singers, who sparked an uproar with their rendition of an Islamic song at a Durga Puja venue in Chattogram, had been invited to perform at the event by a Metropolitan Puja Udjapan Parishad official, according to the police.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (Crime) Rais Uddin shared the information at a media briefing on Friday following the arrest of two individuals in connection with the incident.

The detainees were identified as 42-year-old Shahidul Karim and 34-year-old Nurul Islam. Shahidul is affiliated with the Tanjimul Ummah Madrasa, while Nurul teaches at the Darul Ifran Academy.

The incident occurred during a cultural event hosted by the Chattogram Metropolitan Puja Udjapan Parishad at JM Sen Hall around 7pm on Thursday, where members of an organisation named 'Chattogram Cultural Academy' went on stage and performed two songs.

Video clips of the performance soon began circulating on social media, sparking unrest among the Hindu community. This led to increased law enforcement presence and prompted protests by the local Hindu community outside the venue.

Law enforcers subsequently identified the performers and made the arrests during overnight raids across the city, according to Rais Uddin.

He said that the artists had performed an Islamic ghazal and a Baul song at the request of the Puja committee’s Joint General Secretary Sajal Dutta. The performance of one of these songs was deemed offensive by Hindu attendees, intensifying the situation.

Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Farida Khanam later visited the venue and promised that legal actions would be pursued against those involved.

Ashish Bhattacharya, the president of the Metropolitan Puja Udjapan Parishad, expressed regret over the incident and issued an apology on stage, announcing the expulsion of Sajal Dutta, the joint secretary of the Puja committee over the incident.

"Other committee members and I were not at the venue when the incident occurred. The performers approached Sajal Dutta about performing patriotic songs, and he assisted them. We arrived later and asked them to stop the performance. We are looking into why this occurred," Bhattacharya said.

The Hindu community continued to protest against the Puja committee on the road in front of JM Sen Hall well into the night.

While the police indicated that a case would be filed by the puja committee, no official record of the case had been made at the police station as of noon on Friday.

Deputy Commissioner Rais Uddin said that the case was still in the process of being filed.