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Houston Hindu community holds vigil in solidarity with Hindus in Bangladesh
Paro Sarkar, a board member of HinduAction and Sharmishtha Saha from the Bangladeshi diaspora led the vigil against the continued targeting of Hindus and attacks on Hindu temples in Bangladesh
On Aug.11, the Hindu community in Sugar Land, Texas, assembled in large numbers to demonstrate their solidarity with and to increase awareness of the circumstances of Bangladeshi Hindus and other minorities in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina's government's collapse.
The minority community, specifically Bangladeshi Hindus, have been ruthlessly targeted by Islamists from the BNP and groups aligned with Jamat-e-Islami ideology. People have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed, temples vandalized, women and children violated and countless have been tortured and killed, echoing the orchestrated pogroms of Operation Searchlight that led to the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.
The vigil organized by Maitri in Houston (Bangladeshi Hindu diaspora) and co-organized by HinduACTion, VHPA, HinduPACT, Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) and the Houston Durga Bari Society was one of the first to be organized in the Houston, Texas, area and is one of the many spontaneous, grassroots mobilizations of the Hindu community around the world.
Additionally, the civic engagement group, DISHA-USA members provided support and assistance in community outreach. Leading Hindu advocacy and volunteer organizations, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), SEWA International, Hindus of Greater Houston and Hindu American Foundation (HAF), also participated in the event.
Paro Sarkar, a board member of HinduAction and Sharmishtha Saha from the Bangladeshi diaspora led the vigil against the continued targeting of Hindus and attacks on Hindu temples in Bangladesh. They demanded immediate steps by the Biden-Harris administration to rescue the beleaguered Hindus and give them “special protected status”.
Chants of “Justice, Justice, We Want Justice” and “We won’t run, We Won’t hide – Stop Hindu Genocide” conveyed the urgency to the audience, America and the world that immediate steps are needed to control the anarchy, lawlessness and state of terror engulfing the vulnerable Bangladeshi Hindu community.
Other speakers who voiced their concerns, shared poignant stories from their own experiences and raised their voice for call to action included:
Debabrata Nandi, Maitri in Houston, Shalini Kapoor, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) , Amit Raina Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD), Ashish Agrawal DISHA USA, Shibir Chowdhury Houston Durga Bari Society (HDBS), Achalesh Amar HinduPACT and AHAD, Arvind Iyer Hindu American Foundation (HAF), Viren Vyas Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Hari Iyer Hindus Advancing Human Rights, Arun Kankani, Sewa International, Uttam Karmakar, Maitri in Houston.
Vijay Pallod speaking at the Vigil. / Supriya Datta
A particularly moving message was shared by Amit Raina of GKPD, himself a Kashmiri Hindu Genocide Survivor. “I can deeply understand and relate to the pain that our Hindu community in Bangladesh is currently enduring. We, too, have faced similar ethnic cleansing as a community multiple times, the most recent being in 1990, and this systematic genocide based on religion continues even today. It is important for us to recognize that this is the same terror template being repeatedly used by Islamic fundamentalists to target indigenous populations across the globe. We must not allow another ‘Kashmir Files’ to unfold in Bangladesh.”
Uttam Karmokar, who hails from Bangladesh himself, expressed his anguish and said “America, you talk about democracy, about human rights – why are you silent on what is happening in Bangladesh?”
Jennifer Knessek from State Senator, Joan Huffman’s office, joined the Hindu community and expressed her support.
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