Odisha Sand Artist Sudarsan Pattnaik Appeals To ‘Stop Religious Atrocities In Bangladesh’ With Sculpture At Puri Beach

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has appealed for peace in Bangladesh in signature style – by making a sand sculpture at the Puri beach.

‘My humble appeal to stop the religious atrocities in Bangladesh,’ he wrote on his X account.

Pattnaik has depicted bloodshed with images of temples smeared with blood and a human face with hands spread out as if crying for help.

The sand art has the message ‘let peace prevail’ written in the backdrop, while the message in the front reads ‘STOP religious attacks.’

My humble appeal to stop the religious atrocities in #Bangladesh . My SandArt at Puri beach with message #LetPeacePrevail, #StopReligiousAttack . pic.twitter.com/IVOB8OUKwh

— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) August 13, 2024

Notably, protests began in Bangladesh last month over a controversial government job-quota system and transformed into nationwide unrest following a harsh crackdown by authorities. Nearly 300 people were killed within weeks in one of the most violent phases of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

The violence took a communal turn with over 200 instances of attacks, including five killings, on minority Hindus in three days of chaos after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh.