The protestors were nearing her residence, and the only option she could think of to save her life was to leave the nation she headed as the Prime Minister (PM) for 15 years. This is what happens when foreign players intervene in a democracy and try to install their own puppets into it. On August 5, 2024, Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu and father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, fled to India.
All of this started when the quota system which was abolished by Hasina in 2018, was overturned in June 2024, by the High Court. However, this court order was suspended by the Supreme Court later, meaning currently there is no such quota in the South Asian nation. The system traces its origin in 1972, when the then PM Sheikh Mujibur Rahman introduced it, reserving 56% of government jobs in Bangladesh for various groups, including 30% for the descendants of freedom fighters who fought the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.
Following the June High Court verdict, the public universities of Bangladesh in July had students and faculty walkouts over the new Prottoy Universal Pension Scheme, which if it had been implemented, would have involved salary deductions. In the start, the protests were peaceful, but as Hasina delivered a speech in which she called out the protesting students “rajakars”- a term used to define the supporters of Pakistan during their liberation war, it all blew out.
The clashes were widely reported between the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) – the students’ wing of the Awami League and the protesting students with the support of the police. Additionally, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were also deployed by the Hasina government on the campus of Dhaka University.
But the main architect behind the fall of the Hasina government is the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, India Today reported. Many ICS cadres were admitted into various Bangladeshi universities over the previous 2 years which gave them the opportunity to instigate common students. The said organization is believed to be backed by the Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and significantly funded by the Chinese entities operating in Pakistan.
Just three days after Sheikh Hasina fled, on 8 August, Muhammad Yunus, an economist who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, for bringing out millions from poverty took oath as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government. Through his Grameen Bank, he provided small loans to the rural poor who were not that wealthy to gain attention from traditional banks.
But even the Nobel laureate could not stop the targeted attacks committed against minorities, especially Hindus. According to The Daily Star newspaper, on August 9, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad released a report stating 205 instances of attacks on minority community members especially Hindus in 52 districts of the country.
Another document released by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council highlighted 54 attacks on the Hindu minority which included staged attacks on their temples, houses and establishments. Apart from the document, several videos that went viral on social media showed the same. On August 6, Hindu houses and businesses were yet again attacked in 27 districts, reported The Daily Star.
The Islamists have raped several Hindu women in this genocidal wave but no international human or women’s rights organization has come forward to show support to the victims, who otherwise would have been on the forefront if the victims had been Muslims. Such sad is the state of affairs for the Hindus today.
The NewYork Times published a report on August 7, with the headline titled “Hindus in Bangladesh Face Revenge Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit” which after receiving backlash from its readers got changed into “Hindus in Bangladesh Face Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit”, meaning the U.S. daily omitted the word “revenge”.
The same narrative was parroted by Human Rights Watch. Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch stated, “Hindus are being attacked because they traditionally supported her Awami League party. Bangladeshis came out on the streets to demand an end to authoritarianism, and these attacks undermine their just demand for human rights.”
In another article titled “Bangladesh: Why there must be caution in understanding the violence against Hindus”, Scroll, justified the violence committed by Islamists against Hindus. “In India, the Hindutva propaganda machinery within the sections of Indian media, along with various kinds of rumours and misinformation, has exacerbated this apprehension”, the article said.
In light of the above arguments, I conclude my argument by saying that the life of Hindus is very cheap proving their ongoing genocide in Bangladesh.
(The author has requested anonymity)
