Nava Thakuria

The unfolding of events in the last few months may concentrate the apprehension that our immediate neighbour Bangladesh may return back to its earlier identity, an Islamic regime. Once a part of undivided Bharat, the Muslim majority region emerged as East Pakistan in 1947 and later got a new identity as a sovereign nation. Bangladesh was born in 1971 as a secular republic. Most of its citizens preferred to accept the Bengali identity (irrespective of their religion and creeds) over the Islamic nationalism. But lately, it’s widely anticipated that Bangladesh will soon turn out to be an Islamic republic (like its former ally Pakistan). However, the current caretaker government head Professor Muhammad Yunus made it clear that Islamic extremism has no place in Bangladesh.

The lone Nobel laureate of Bangladesh, Prof Yunus (who was appointed as chief adviser of the interim government in Dhaka on 8 August 2024 after the fall of Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina) asserted that Islamic extremism will never be endorsed in the land of 180 million Bangladeshis. Responding to this writer’s query, the octogenarian banker turned social business preacher turned regime head pointed out that the youth, who want to make Bangladeshi as a progressive nation, will not allow the domination of any religious extremism.

Mentionable is that a student-led movement demanding the reform in government job quotas turned out to be a mass uprising against the ousted Prime Minister Hasina, who fled to our country on 5 August and continues to stay in New Delhi. The central government has not yet declared that the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (iconic freedom fighter who ruled Bangladesh till he was assassinated by radical elements in 1975) has been given political asylum, but only accommodated her following a short notice request. It’s largely assumed that Hasina’s presence in the Hindu majority nation flares up attacks on religious minorities in the south Asian nation, which has received global media attention.

Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council claimed that no less than 2,000 attacks were carried out on Hindus, who constitute a dwindling 8% population in Bangladesh, since the first week of August. Over 1,500 sculptures, figures carved into walls with materials like ceramic or terracotta, murals and memorials related to Hindu beliefs were targeted by the vandals. Most of these destructive incidents targeting the Bangla cultural identity and minority heritage took place soon after septuagenarian Hasina was ousted from the official residence of PM. The burning, uprooting and defacing of valuable items (including the life-size statues of Mujib) were reported from all over the country, which also reflected the hostility faced by Hindus in the changing socio-political landscape.

Amidst public outrages across the vast country and also government reactions, India’s most influential socio-cultural group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, ideologue of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) expressed serious concern over the flaring up of attacks, looting, arson, killings, inhumane persecution of women over the Hindu and other religious minority people in the neighbouring country and urged the interim government to firmly deal with the situation ensuring the safety and security to the minority families and their worship places from the Islamic extremists. RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale also apprehended that Bangladesh was slipping into a radical Islamic State steadily.

“The rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh has led to alarming levels of persecution against religious minorities, particularly the long-marginalized Hindu population and there has been massive violence in the form of brutal attacks on minorities by extremist groups like Jamaat-i-Islami and Hizbul Tahrir. Reports indicate that thousands of Hindu teachers were forced to resign or retire under pressure, while tens of thousands of Hindu professionals have been coerced out of the state education sector, agriculture, and small businesses. This pattern reflects a broader effort to consolidate power among radical groups,” said Hosabale.

Earlier the arrest and elongated detention of Sanatani Sanyasi Chinmoy Krishna Das on sedition charges (allegedly for disrespecting Bangladeshi flag at a protest rally) ignited more protest-demonstrations across India. The former International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) preacher Chinmoy Krishna was arrested from Dhaka on 25 November and put in Chittagong central jail. The Hindu spiritual leader is yet to get his bail as no practicing lawyer came forward to defend him in the court. The bail plea for Chinmoy Krishna is now deferred to next month. The Hindu lawyers were reportedly threatened by the Islamists to avoid entering the court premises to legally support the Bangladesh Sanmilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote leader.

A long list of allegations against Prof Yunus comes to the public domain as he seemingly did little to prevent atrocities perpetrated by the radical elements against the minority community. Many Hindu priests were killed or detained, where the Bangla police termed those as usual incidents of robbery. With more to it, the current regime helped get bail from the court for convicted Islamist terrorist Al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansarullah Bangla team chief Mufti Jasimuddin. Many other Islamists along with other prisoners reportedly broke different jails soon after he took the charge and incidents of looting weapons by the radical militants were recorded.

New Delhi is also worried about the growing closeness between Dhaka and Islamabad, as Prof Yunus met Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif two times since he took the responsibility as chief adviser to the Bangla caretaker regime. First, he managed time to talk to PM Sharif in New York during the 79th UN General Assembly session, where the Indian PM avoided any one-to-one meeting with Prof Yunus. Lately he met Sharif again in Cairo during the D-8 Summit, where Prof Yunus understandably emphasized on resolving all pending issues with Islamabad, so that Dhaka can move forward leaving aside the 1971 bloody separation legacy.

On the ground, Dhaka eased the air travel for Pakistani nationals to Bangladesh and Islamabad responded with a similar facility to Bangladeshi citizens. Both the governments also agreed to resume direct flights between the two countries (now separated by Indian landmass). Recently, a cargo ship arrived in Chittagong from Karachi port ‘without customs inspections & and security clearance’, first ever direct shipment since 1971, which has seen a policy shift towards Islamabad. Moreover Dhaka has recently received an unverified volume of ammunition from Pakistan security forces.

Mentionable is that, Hasina insisted on a formal apology from Pakistan for the genocide (killing over 30 lakh Bangladeshis) during the liberation war. So all doors of Dhaka were closed for the Pakistan government and eventually it was closed to New Delhi (also Beijing) during Hasina’s long solitary tenure (last one from 2009 to 2024 August first week) as the Bangladesh government head. On a different track, she grew unusual enmity towards Prof Yunus and he was almost jailed for a money laundering case in the lower court (now that is dismissed after Prof Yunus was sworn in as the interim government chief). Hasina will seemingly face many difficulties from Prof Yunus in the coming days.

Speaking to this writer from Dhaka, an opposition party sympathiser, claimed that the New Delhi, Indian media outlets and a large section of people continue looking at Bangladesh through the lens of Hasina. Nothing wrong if New Delhi gives shelter to the fascist leader, but they have forgotten that during her rule too many Hindu temples were attacked by radical Islamic elements. Precisely in 2021, during Durga Puja festival over hundred Puja Pandals were vandalised killing many Hindu devotees, claimed the sympathiser questioning why India cannot compel Hasina first to apologise for her failures to protect the minorities during her long tenure as the premier.