There will be no discrimination against any Bangladeshi on the basis of their religion or political beliefs, Muhammad Yunus, the head of the country’s interim government, said on Sunday, The Hindu reported.

“We will not discriminate against anyone for following a different religion or for having a different political opinion,” Yunus in a televised address to the nation ahead of the Hindu festival Krishna Janmashtami. “We want to include all members of the country into one family.”

The festival is a national holiday in Bangladesh.

Religious minorities, tribes and other marginalised communities are equal citizens of the “new Bangladesh” and they will have equal rights, Yunus said.

Yunus took over as the chief advisor to the interim government in Dhaka on August 8 after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and landed in India on August 5.

The Awami League leader fled the country after the student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, snowballed into a broader agitation against her government.

Amid this crisis, there were reports of violence against Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh.

On August 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Yunus to ensure “the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities”. India’s external affairs ministry had also said that the Delhi is monitoring the situation in Bangladesh.

A day after Modi in his Independence Day speech said that Indians were worried about the safety of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, Yunus assured the Indian prime minister of the protection, safety and security of Hindus and all religious minorities in the country.

The Nobel laureate had also said that the reports of attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh “have been exaggerated”. Yunus added that he was inviting Indian journalists to report from the ground in Bangladesh “on the issues of the minority protection”.

On Bangladesh elections

On the question of when the country will head for elections, Yunus said that the interim government will remain in charge as long as Bangladeshis want it to implement the corruption-free governance agenda of the student protestors, The Daily Star reported.

“Everyone is interested to know when our government will go,” he said on Sunday. “The answer to the question lies in your hands. It is up to you when you want to bid us farewell. The people will have to decide when you will let us go.”

He added that the interim government took charge at the urging of the students. “They are our primary employers,” he said.

Yunus said that people must have patience to see reforms take shape in the country.

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