Pankaj Nath, a sitting Awami League MP from Barisal-4 constituency in Bangladesh, is now running as an independent in the 7 January national elections.
“Barisal-4 is a Muslim majority constituency and yet Pankaj-da won from there. All because of his popularity. When Awami League denies such a popular MP ticket and fields a Muslim candidate instead, naturally a large chunk of the Hindu community feels dejected,” says 26-year-old Nilay Biswas, who has done his post-graduation in mass communication and journalism from Dhaka University.
The fate of this politician from Sheikh Hasina’s party has not gone down well with a section of Bangladeshi Hindus. And at the receiving end of this change are eight per cent Hindus of the country who are turning anxious as they run out of options with Hasina’s party that’s facing heat from an Islamist opposition, and shedding some of its secular image.
Judhajit Senmazumdar, founder of NRIs For Bengal Campaign, a global diaspora for Bengal and Bengalis, told ThePrint the world is watching Hasina and hoping she would ensure safety and security for Hindus. It is for Hasina to show the world that even though the State religion is Islam, Hindus can live in peace in her country, said Senmazumdar.
Awami League, the sinking hope
Biswas and many others like him are concerned with the political instability. Activists of the country’s principal opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, are out on the streets in violent protests against the ruling dispensation as the Sheikh Hasina government asks voters to come out in large numbers.
Today, Biswas feels alienated as a Hindu Bangladeshi. Hasina’s party, Awami League, has always upheld secular values and has been the party of choice for the majority of the Hindu population in Bangladesh. But Biswas said the government has not been able to stem the othering of Hindus.
For the likes of Biswas, their loyalty is tested every time Hindus in Bangladesh are called India’s agents. Their faith shaken when temples are attacked. And they feel insecure when murderous mobs tell Hindus to convert, leave the country or die.
“I am happy Pankaj-da is now fighting the elections as an independent candidate, but the episode (the MP’s sidelining) has left a bad taste,” he said.
Biswas, though, admits Hindus in Bangladesh have little choice this time also but to vote for the Awami League. The BNP has a history of animosity towards minorities and its erstwhile coalition partner, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has openly called for the imposition of Sharia law.
“It is either Hasina or an abyss,” said Biswas.
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History of violence against Hindus
Biswas is not alone in fearing a political future without Hasina. There have been sporadic attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh even with Hasina in office from 2009. But the BNP-Jamaat years were nothing short of a nightmare. The BNP and Jamaat, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, came together in 1999 to form a four-party alliance ahead of the 2001 national election, which the alliance won.
After the electoral victory of the BNP-Jamaat in 2001, a systematic campaign of violence against Hindus went on for nearly six months. Later, a judicial commission that probed the violence put out a report saying there were around 18,000 incidents of major crimes against Hindus, around 1,000 Hindu women were raped and 200 were victims of gang rape, while nearly 500,000 Hindus fled to India in fear.
“Such was the extent of violence that 15 years of Hasina has not been able to heal the scars left on the Hindu psyche. Those scars get deepened when fresh incidents of violence get reported, like they have been during Hasina’s reign,” said Joyanta Karmoker, a 27-year-old Hindu rights activist who uses his social media to document attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.
Avijit Majumder Hridoy, a Bangladeshi journalist from Pirojpur district who works for the Bengali TV news channel Kolkata TV, had told ThePrint to have seen broken idols inside a pandal at Tambulkhana Bazaar in Faridpur this year. “The head of the idol of Lord Ganesh, both hands of the Laxmi idol and Durga idol’s arms were broken. Durga idol’s fingers were taken off. The same fingers that hold weapons to slay the demon,” Hridoy had said. He had claimed the incident happened just before Durga Puja celebrations began and the pandal was left unguarded.
“And now Jamaat wants Sharia law in Bangladesh. Where will Hindus go if the Jamaat somehow manage to come to power?” Karmoker asks.
There is a growing trust deficit between the Hindus and Hasina’s party that has ruled the country for long. They want Bangladesh to remember its original promise of secularism.
“Take the 2021 Durga puja violence. The Hasina administration has complete control over the law-and-order situation of the country, having ruled for 15 straight years in her current stint. How could the anti-Hindu violence over the fake news that a Hindu devotee had kept a copy of the Quran at the feet of a statue of Lord Hanuman lead to nationwide riots against Hindus? What were the police doing?” asked Karmoker.
Though Durga puja celebrations last year and this year have been relatively peaceful, there are concerns that Hindus may have to bear the brunt of political violence, now that elections are round the bend.
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A one-sided election?
For now, both the BNP and Jamaat are out of the electoral fray.
The appellate division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court has dismissed a leave-to-appeal filed by Jamaat-e-Islami challenging a High Court verdict, which declared the party’s registration with the Election Commission as illegal. This means the Jamaat cannot participate in the 7 January elections.
On its part, the BNP has said it won’t participate in the polls till Sheikh Hasina steps down as the prime minister and elections are held under a caretaker government. The Hasina government has rejected this demand.
“It is likely that with both BNP and Jamaat out of the electoral fray, Sheikh Hasina will be back as the premier,” says Sagar Sadhu Thakur, general secretary of the Matua Mahasangh, as association for the Matuas, a Hindu subsect with as many as 60 lakh followers. Thakur fears a one-sided election may have violent ramifications for Hindus in Bangladesh.
“We have seen this in the past. If Hasina comes back to power, she must protect Hindus from post-poll violence. But more importantly, she should look at the demands made by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, the largest minority association in the Bangladesh,” he said.
The council had held protests in September against the non-implementation of election pledges made in the 2018 election manifesto of the Awami League. Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the council, had said demands included the formation of a national minority commission and a special law for the safety of minorities.
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Minority report
In September this year, Hasina asked Bangladesh’s Hindus not to consider themselves minorities. She said the country belongs to everyone irrespective of caste, creed and religion as they fought for its independence against Pakistani occupation forces in 1971. “Don’t undermine yourselves as a minority…Why are you doing so when you are the people of this country?”
But Thakur said one cannot overcome the feeling of alienation when Durga puja is held under tight security or a Pankaj Debnath is denied ticket. “One does feel like a minority.”
He said Hasina’s stated aim of turning the country into Smart Bangladesh, an initiative to transform the country into a technologically advanced and sustainable society with smart cities, smart agriculture, smart healthcare, smart education, smart energy, smart governance and smart institutions is indeed praiseworthy.
And then there is the Hasina government’s Vision 2041, based on two main objectives, to make Bangladesh a developed country by 2041, with a per capita income of more than $12,500 with full compatibility with the digital world, and to make poverty a thing of the past.
But Thakur said Hasina should add sensitivity to the mix. “Smart and sensitive Bangladesh that takes the Hindus and other minorities along in its journey is what Hindus in Bangladesh want.”
It’s a tough line Hasina and her party have to face this election. She needs power to protect the Hindus but that power comes from majority support.
“Hindus have spilt blood for creation of Bangladesh. Rabindranath Tagore is integral to the very idea of Bangladesh. Hindus today should not have to hear the slur ‘Malayan’ and see their homes and temples attacked,” he Senmazumdar.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)