After the violent, communal incidents against Hindus in the last 72 hours in the Comilla district as well as several adjacent districts of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina released a statement saying that those involved in the attacks will be hunted down and punished. However, in the same breath, she shot off a veiled warning to India that it shouldn’t do anything that hurts the Hindu community in Bangladesh.
She said, “We expect that nothing happens there (in India) which could influence any situation in Bangladesh affecting our Hindu community here,”
Hindus lives matter only if Islamists are mollycoddled
Indirectly, Hasina was insinuating that if any kind of news regarding violence against Muslims came out from India, she will not be able to save the Hindus, as Islamists will have a much more concrete reason to go after them. For Hasina and her ilk, human rights are a transactional entity, and Hindus can only remain safe if Islamists are mollycoddled and cherished in India.
Reported by TFI, Durga Puja – the biggest Hindu festival to be celebrated in Bangladesh, came to an abrupt and violent end on Wednesday (October 13), when Islamists’ mobs ravaged the Hindu pandals and mandaps, desecrating the vigrahas and creating chaos by killing 4 people and leaving hundreds injured.
Read More: Durga Puja ends early in Bangladesh
Attacks continue despite Hasina’s statements
While nothing of that sort happened in India as the minorities went about their business routinely, the carnage continued on Vijayadashami, when distressing reports came from Bangladesh, one after another . Reportedly, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple in the Noakhali district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh was attacked by a blood-thirsty, frenzied mob of 400-500 radical Islamists.
ISKCON temple took to Twitter to share the reality of the situation with pictures. “ISKCON temple & devotees were violently attacked today by a mob in Noakhali, Bangladesh. Temple suffered significant damage & the condition of a devotee remains critical. We call on the Govt of Bangladesh to ensure the safety of all Hindus & bring the perpetrators to justice.” it tweeted.
https://twitter.com/iskcon/status/1449029665578831873
ISKCON spokesperson Radharamn Das shared a video wherein radical Islamists were seen desecrating the ISKCON temple. “Just few hours back today, around 500 Muslim mob gathered outside ISKCON temple in Noakhali and they broke deities inside ISKCON temple and set temple on fire,” he informed. Furthermore, he stated that a makeshift Durga pandal, located in front of the temple, was also vandalised. “Our devotees fought; many are critical,”
Just few hours back today, around 500 Muslim mob gathered outside @iskcon
Temple in Naokhali and they broke Deities inside ISKCON temple and set temple on fire. They also destroyed Durga Devi in front of ISKCON Temple. Our devotees fought: many r critical pic.twitter.com/R8Rfs8H6kX— Radharamn Das राधारमण दास (@RadharamnDas) October 15, 2021
Attacks started with a rumour
The cycle of violence against Hindus started with a rumour, when some BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and Jamaat-e-Islam miscreants planted a copy of the Quran at the feet of Ganesh in the Durga pantheon at Nanuyar Dighir Par Temple in Comilla district, on Tuesday night. A district official was quoted as saying, “The miscreants took some pictures of this and ran away. Within a few hours, using Facebook, the propaganda spread like wildfire with the provocative pictures,”
Bangladesh Hindu Unity Council, which works for the basic rights of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh took to Twitter to share the magnitude of violence and barbarity.
“We cannot publish in a tweet what has happened in the last 24 hours. The Hindus of Bangladesh saw the real faces of some people. We don’t know what will happen in the future. But the Hindus of Bangladesh will never forget Durga Puja in 2021. #SaveBangladeshiHindus” the organisation tweeted.
https://twitter.com/UnityCouncilBD/status/1448477757554450435
The fact that violent episodes have continued against Hindus even after Hasina’s remarks, speaks volumes that she is just another secular face sitting at the top executive post in the country. However, the real strings are pulled by hardcore Islamists, who work in the shadows and want to weed out the Hindus of the country.
Since what is going on in Bangladesh is pretty well predicted, what will it take for Hasina-Banu to post police or para-military guards at the temples?