Clergies demand scrapping Durga Puja holiday in madrasas, call it ‘against sharia’

A section of madrasa teachers and guardians have demanded that the upcoming Durga Puja holiday in madrasas be cancelled, describing it as “irrelevant” and “against Sharia”. Educational institutions across Bangladesh, including madrasas, are scheduled to remain closed during the Hindu festival in October. However, in a written petition submitted to the office of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday (September 24), the group urged the government to withdraw the two-day Puja break for madrasas. The petition stated: “The previous government imposed many anti-Islamic decisions on the Aliya madrasa system. One of them was enforcing holidays for religious events of other faiths. This is completely contrary to Islamic Sharia. While we respect the rights of people of other religions to...