It could be another Ramu or Nasirnagar, but due to the proactive measures by the central leaders of the ruling Awami League a communal tension has been prevented in Bhola.
The bigots used a hacked facebook page of a person who is from Hindu religious background to insult Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) so that they can start riot.
Soon after that, Islami Andolon and different other Islamists groups came out of the street from the local Hatkhola Jame Mosque and staged demonstrations. They chanted communal slogans and demanded the arrest of the person.
Getting the information, Economist Dr Ashikur Rahman Shanto, also an executive member of the Bangladesh Awami Juboleague Central Committee, engaged the central leaders to help local administration take the situation under control. Dr Shanto is also hailed from Bhola.
“Extremely thankful to AL Joint Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif MP, Bahauddin Nasim and Office Secretary Barrister Biplab Barua and Bhola stationed DC and SP for their complete support to mitigate today's intense communal tension,” he wrote in a facebook post on Thursday night.
“They responded to my every request and information so promptly that we could maintain peace across all religious bodies.”
He further wrote: “A secular Bangladesh is only possible when political leaders are responsive in critical times. I am sure we have saved many innocent lives today ...and it is times like these we find our life as a political worker under HMP Sheikh Hasina has some meaning. May Bangladesh continue to be a beacon of religious harmony in this region under our leaders's guidance. Joy Bangla. Joy Bangabandhu”.
In Ramu Upazilla, Cox’s Bazar district, on September 29 and 30 in 2012, a series of attacks were made on Buddhist monasteries, shrines, and houses of Buddhist inhabitants by local mobs following such an online post.
On October 30, 2016, bigots carried out arson attacks and vandalism on the homes and temples of Hindus in the Nasirnagar upazila on the same pretext.