Bangladeshi Student Protests. / REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Since late July, Bangladeshi Hindus are facing another round of violence and persecution in their homeland. This latest bout followed the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government by a student led movement.

The insurrection, rioting, protests, and other anti-government activities devolved into an orgy of anti-Hindu violence marked by arson, looting, threats, rapes, massacres, lynchings, forced resignations, and temple desecration. However, for some inexplicable reason, this resurgence of targeted religious violence is not getting enough attention, which is heartbreaking  for all concerned with basic Human Rights.

This sustained onslaught has revived the traumatic memories of the 1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide in then East Pakistan. We are alarmed at the continuous flow of gruesome images and stories coming from Bangladesh, which hint at the grim reality facing Hindus in all walks of life there. It is not a coincidence that Hindu population has dropped from 22% in 1951 to 13.5 in 1974 to less than 8% in 2024. 

The original bout of brutal physical violence and intimidation may now be evolving into more insidious measures like the forced mass resignations of Bangladeshi Hindus from long held jobs and even government issued fiats asking its minority citizens to curb their prayers and religious practices -even as they gear up for Durga Puja, their largest festival of the year.

The agony of Bangladesh and its impact on many Hindus is difficult to put into words. One CoHNA volunteer, who preferred to be anonymous, noted, “As a diaspora Hindu, the feelings of helplessness and the urge to do whatever I could was overwhelming. As the horrific flood of messages poured in real -time, it was unbelievable both how this was happening, and how the institutions that claim to defend so-called democracy and human-rights did no reporting at all. Their silence was and remains deafening!

The violent oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh is nothing new and reached its zenith in the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971. At that time Senator Ted Kennedy boldly spoke out against the specific targeting of Hindus when few others did. And it never really ended there as lawmakers like the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee had pointed out. This latest spate of violence comes on the back of systemic large scale violence periodically unleashed on Bangladeshi Hindus, since the country’s formation.

Currently we see many try to pass off the current wave of violence as against Hindus as being political not religious-the excuse Hindus were “supporters of the ousted Awami League”. Against this background, it’s important to remember the last wave of anti-Hindu violence occurred in 2021, during Navratri Durga Puja where multiple Puja pandals and temples were attacked, Hindus were killed and arrested for protesting, and Mandirs were vandalized. Tragically much of that violence was deliberately created through fake news. 

Diaspora Action to Drive Global Focus

Despite the massive onslaught of violence on a religious minority in a land that was once theirs, we see a constant orchestrated campaign of gaslighting that attempts to deny, minimize, and even justify violence against Bangladeshi Hindus.

It has also galvanized some North American Hindus into action-multiple organizations, temples, individuals and groups. Here at CoHNA, we immediately set up a taskforce to track, tabulate, investigate, and raise awareness about the ongoing persecution, and our email campaign began urging US and Canadian lawmakers to take action at the institutional level. 

As thousands of emails began pouring out, the community followed up with grassroots action! For 4 weeks now, we’ve seen vigils, rallies, marches, and protests across the United States and Canada and other parts of the world. It began within a week of the violence-- in Canada’s Calgary and  City of London, followed by New York City , Washington DC, Toronto, Montreal,  Bay Area, Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Angeles and more. The violence in Bangladesh showed up in the iconic NYC India Day Parade, near the DNC Convention in Chicago and in progressive bastions like Seattle and UC Berkeley. Every protest has platformed the voices of the otherwise silenced Hindus from Bangladesh and attracted support across race, religion and background.

Thankfully we saw some political figures, including Raja Krishnamoorthi,  Shri Thanedar, Ro Khanna, Chuck Schumer, Vivek Ramawasmy and others, start demanding the protection of Bangladesh's Hindu population. In Canada, leaders such as Kevin Vuong, Rob Oliphant, Pierre Poilievre, Chandra Arya, Kamal Khera, Melissa Lantsman, and Shuv Majumdar raised their voices on the human rights violations in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the vast majority of politicians, lawmakers and institutions have chosen to remain silent.

We aim to make sure that the voices of our fellow humans are heard and so we spoke to our lawmakers -in private and via public briefings with MPs in Canada and Congressional leaders in the US. In the spirit of highlighting Bengali Hindu voices, we would like to share a few quotes from the Hindu Bengali diaspora. 

Rana Banik, a Bangladeshi American student from CoHNA's Youth Action Network, testified about the ordeal his family and friends have gone through since early August at. He said “For the 13 million Bangladeshi Hindus, a nightmare literally unfolded. Many Hindu families, including mine, hid themselves or locked themselves inside homes in fear for the next 3 or 4 days. Those who are less fortunate fled to the jungles or border areas at night.” He continued “A lot of my friends are here, a lot of my colleagues are here in America or Canada, we still feel the pain.” 

In Canada, Jyoti Purkayastha of the Toronto Durgabari Temple shared a personal account of her cousin’s disappearance following an attack as part of CoHNA’s briefing with MP Kevin Vuong They were later found in a pond and were in a coma. She also told the tragic story of a young mother and her 15-month-old son who were brutally murdered to intimidate their family and usurp their business. "For those who say this is not happening—it’s very real. Please don’t deny it," she pleaded.

The situation is still dire. Work is needed around the clock to protect the human rights of the religious minorities. The most recent atrocity-the brutal mob lynching of a young 15 years old Hindu boy in a police station led to shock waves around the world.

We are missing George Harrison today! In August 1971, he and Ravi Shankar hosted the iconic “Concert for Bangladesh” at Madison Square Garden, drawing global attention to the Bangladesh genocide.
But in September 2024 who will stand up for Bangladeshi Hindus? 


 

The author is a board member of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA).

 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of  New India Abroad.