Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the Hindu community on Thursday that they will continue to have equal rights and be able to openly celebrate their festivals, while also threatening those who engaged in violence and destruction at temples and Durga Puja pandals in Comilla and elsewhere.

Those attacking Durga Puja pandals will be hunted down, punished: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina

By breaking into traditional male bastions, a tiny group of women is making a loud plea for gender equality during Durga Puja. Female priests are rare and not the norm in India, but at 66 Pally Durga Puja, four female priests violated centuries-old customs, making this Durga Puja in Kolkata historic.

First time in the history of Durga Puja in Bengal, women priests to perform rituals

As the much-awaited Durga Puja festivities begin from Thursday, a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping replacing the demon has gone viral on social media.

Chinese President Xi Jinping Replaces ‘Asur’ in Bengal’s Durga Idol

Invoking Goddess Durga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reaffirmed his government's irrevocable commitment to women's empowerment. Reaching out to the people of West Bengal during the state's biggest festival, the prime minister said though it was being celebrated on a limited scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the "enthusiasm is still unlimited".

PM Modi invokes Durga to reaffirm commitment to women's empowerment

392 new festival special trains - The festive season is just around the corner and number of people intending to travel to their hometowns and other places within the country is expected to rise.

Indian Railways to run 392 special trains during festive season

Two Durga Puja Pandals in India's West Bengal have decided to pay tribute to migrant workers of the country and their struggles amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

India: Two Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal depict migrant workers

Bengalis settled in various countries are taking online lessons to perform Durga Puja rituals themselves as the COVID-19 outbreak has forced priests from West Bengal to cancel their international travel plans.

COVID-19 forces Bengalis settled abroad to learn Durga Puja rituals online

In a bid to promote Bengali cinema, the West Bengal government has issued a directive to cinema halls across the state to screen Bengali films during the upcoming festival of Durga Puja.

West Bengal govt instructs cinema halls in the state to screen Bengali films during Durga Puja

At a time when West Bengal is reeling under a debt burden, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced a Durga Puja ‘gift’ to the organisers that would cost the state exchequer as much as Rs 70 crore.

Debt-ridden Mamata Banerjee government 'gifts' Rs 70 crore to West Bengal Durga Puja organisers

Sreebhumi Sporting Club in the eastern fringe of Kolkata will have Padmaavat as the core theme this year during Durga Puja.

Padmaavat to be the theme of a Kolkata Puja pandal this year

Women of Kumartoli are taking to clay modelling and, thereby, changing the stronghold of gender prejudices that marked the profession

Breaking tradition, women clay modellers are making Durga idol in Bengal

The Madhya Pradesh police inspector, a Brahmin, performed the rituals herself to allow the worship to proceed

Watch: Priest refuses to conduct rituals for Durga Puja by 'lower castes', woman inspector steps in

During the Navratri festival, the Asur people lock themselves in their homes, blocking every window and every point from where light can enter into their homes.

How Durga Pujo is celebrated beyond the Hindu community

Mamata Banerjee directed last week that there will be no immersion of the Durga idols on Muharram which falls on October 1

Why are you creating communal distinction: High Court raps Mamata Banerjee on Durga idol immersion

The West Bengal chief minister said the move was aimed at averting communal tensions that could be possibly instigated by right-wing extremist groups

Mamata Banerjee bans immersions on Muharram, warns RSS, VHP 'not to play with fire'

Several parts of the eastern state remain tense and administration has failed to bring back normalcy, locals say

Communal clashes erupt in India's West Bengal after Muharram processions, Durga Puja celebrations?

While most highways remained cut off from the cities and towns, tourists were stranded on several arterial roads for several hours

India: Hundreds stranded in West Bengal, Sikkim after landslides

The sex workers are an integral part of the festivities but they say celebrating it entails too much harassment

India: Bengal's sex workers say they won't celebrate Durga puja this year

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