On March 18, ex-students of Cox’s Bazar Government College in Bangladesh were celebrating their diamond jubilee function. Knowing full well that beef is taboo for Hindus, yet the organizing committee served beef not just to the Muslim ex-students, but to Hindus as well.
Some Hindus later expressed their pain to a local news agency. The organizing committee of this college function is said to be controlled by the district Awami League. Activists have claimed that Cox’s Bazar mayor Mujibur Rahman, who is also the general secretary of the Awami League district unit and President of the organizing committee of this diamond jubilee celebration, wanted to serve beef instead of mutton to everyone.
Sources have alleged that Rahman often works in favor of Jamaat-e-Islami in Cox’sBazar; such individuals who play both sides of Bangladesh’s political divide are not uncommon. He has reportedly also converted a Hindu family to Islam, which was covered up with help of some local Hindu political leaders & Puja Udjapan Parishad (a Hindu organisation which some activists allege is used by Awami League to create a ‘secular’ image).
If a Muslim faces issues in observing his Roza (fast during Ramzan) in a non-Muslim country, it becomes an international issue. But the rights of Hindus to follow their own culture are trampled with impunity in Islamic countries.
