City Desk :
State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Kujendra Lal Tripura on Thursday said people of all castes and communities will live side by side as Bengalis, and they will be known as Bangladeshis.
“We are Bangladeshis; our identity is that we are Bangladeshis. People will live with each other’s culture, and people will live with each other’s rights. None will be deprived of his or her rights-not the hilly people nor the Bangalis,” he said at a reception program organized by the district Awami League on the Rangamati Municipality office premises, reports media.
The state minister said: “I want to continue the peace and harmony in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). If we can continue this trend of peace, harmony, and development, we will be able to take the region to a unique height.”
“The CHT will never be left behind. I want to take the region forward alongside the rest of the country. Everyone will work from their own position; this is our commitment,” he said, adding: “The CHT is an integral part of Bangladesh, and the people of Rangamati are in my heart.”
He stated that the CHT region as a whole shares the sorrows of the people of Rangamati, whose happiness is the happiness of the entire region.
He also gave credit to former state minister Dipankar Talukder for establishing peace in the CHT region, including the signing of the historic Peace Accord in 1997.
At the same program, lawmaker Dipankar said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wants the progress of the people of the region.
He said the premier mentioned that the 11 different ethnic communities living in the CHT region should move forward with equal leaps and steps. She is currently working to fulfil this commitment, Dipankar said.
Thanking the PM for making Kujendra Lal Tripura a state minister, Dipankar said that it was a wise decision, as there has been no minister from Khagrachari district since 1998 and no minister from the Tripura community ever.
Earlier in the day, local party leaders and general people received Kujendra Lal Tripura with flowers upon his arrival at the program venue.
