What’s behind the ‘biggest protest’ by Hindus in Bangladesh

On the afternoon of August 5, Meena Rani Das was at her home in Dhaka’s Dhamrai sub-district, some 40km from the capital city, doing chores like any other day. Her daily routine was disrupted when a mob appeared out of nowhere.

Suddenly, 100-150 people came with a procession and started smashing everything, she said. They attacked the main gate of the house and smashed the windows of three rooms. “They hurled religious slurs and profanities. I hid in another room. They tried to break into the nearby temple but failed,” Meena said.

On the same day, Natore’s Puja Celebration Committee president Dwipendranath Saha's house was also attacked. A group of stick-wielding men first smashed the surveillance cameras before vandalising a temple adjacent to the schoolteacher’s house. Then they attacked his house and broke the front gate. The men also attacked two nearby Hindu houses and looted them.

When Saha called the police station, he was told that no help would come.

In southern Bangladesh’s Satkhira, Awami League leader Dr Subrata Ghosh fled to a neighbour’s house when a group of young men wielding sticks, iron pipes and machetes came looking for him on August 5. They vandalised the surveillance cameras before going berserk.

“’Where’s the Indian collaborator?’ they shouted as they vandalised my home,” Ghosh said. But his neighbours, mostly Muslims, intervened and drove away the attackers.

In Jashore’s Narikelbaria, Union Parishad chairman Bablu Kumar Ghosh’s house was attacked. “They came in droves. A number of Hindu houses and businesses were ransacked,” he said.

Folk singer Rahul Ananda’s rented flat in Dhaka, which served as a studio for his ‘Joler Gaan’ band, standing behind the Bangabandhu Museum in Dhanmondi, was set on fire because of its location and it had nothing to do with the singer. Meanwhile, the century-old Maharaja Bir Chandra library in Cumilla was vandalised and burned. Fine arts academies — Shilpkala Academy — in 22 districts were attacked and looted, and some were set on fire.

At least 200 attacks were reported from 52 districts, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) said. The key targets were the houses, businesses and places of worship. Around 15-20 Hindu temples had been damaged and several dozen people were injured.

“Loot and arson took place… properties have been grabbed, women were tortured and murders took place,” the council said in an open letter to the interim government’s chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus on August 13.

Totally exposed

Hindus make up about 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million population. They are traditionally seen as supporters of the Awami League, which brands itself as a secular party.

This time, the attacks sparked an unprecedented protest across the country.

“Historically, Hindus have been a soft target in Bangladesh during times of upheaval or transition. And August 5 will probably go down as the biggest political upheaval in the country’s history,” said Shayan S Khan, executive editor of weekly Dhaka Courier magazine.

Protests were held in Dhaka and some other districts condemning the attacks and demanding to be “saved”. They called for forming a minority protection commission, among others.

In Dhaka’s Shahbagh, Shanti Ranjan Mondal, president of Bhakta Sangha Bangladesh, said that many Hindus were waiting to cross the border. She urged the government to make arrangements so that they could return home with dignity.

Usually, when an event which is likely to incite riots against minorities occurs, local police stations in Hindu-dominated areas spring into action and take anticipatory measures. But this time the minorities were left totally exposed as policemen went into hiding after Hasina’s fall.

‘Back against the wall’

While Bangladesh’s Hindu minorities have been attacked in the past too, the scale of their protests demanding safety this time has been unprecedented.

The Hindus in Bangladesh were attacked after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in India in 1992. The BNP was in office at that time. Thousands of Hindus were attacked when the BNP and its hardline ally Jamaat-e-Islami came to power in 2001.

Even after the deadly attacks, there were hardly any protests in the past. “The Hindus were afraid to protest against attacks in the past, but this year, they are demonstrating because India is helping them indirectly. For example, look at the Indian media reports about the recent attacks,” said journalist and researcher Probir Kumar Sarker.

The Indian government has expressed concerns over attacks on Hindus and hopes normalcy returns soon.

“We just saw the largest protest by minorities in our history. Many organisations and people of other faiths also demonstrated with us,” said Nirmal Rosario, one of the three presidents of the unity council.

“Our back is against the wall,” he said. “The protest and the guarding of places of worship show just how serious the situation is.”

He said the internet and social media helped disseminate information about the attacks and encouraged more people to join the protests. “We didn’t have (mobile) internet or social media in 2001. Things would have been different if we did,” he said.

It is probably this pressure to end the attack on minorities which prompted Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been blamed for the violence by several quarters, to distance itself from the violence. The party’s supremo Shafiqur Rahman has denied his Jamaat’s was not involved in attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh and attributed the negative portrayal of the party to a "malicious" media campaign.

Fewer attacks

Unlike in 2001, the number of attacks has been markedly low this time. Sarker said it was largely because of swift reactions from the EU, US and other countries that the situation did de-escalate.

In a post on X, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, said, “The EU heads of mission are very concerned about incoming reports of multiple attacks against places of worship and members of religious, ethnic and other minorities in Bangladesh.”

The UN chief António Guterres also condemned the attack. Two prominent Indian-American lawmakers called for an immediate end to the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.

“Social media and media reports about the attacks also helped stop them,” Sarker said. “Discussions about the attacks were embarrassing for the interim government and fundamentalists. The fundamentalists involved in these attacks then turned to vandalising statues.”

But misinformation is spreading fast, particularly through social media, in India in the absence of credible information about violence against Hindus.

Fishing in troubled waters

Research by the Bangladesh Peace Observatory (BPO) of the Centre for Alternatives (CA) found that 70% of violence against religious minorities in the country is land-based.

It said the violence manifests itself through the destruction of minority property or places of worship. The report, published on June 26, prepared the information by analysing various types of violence against minorities from 2013 to 2022.

It noted that 59% of the total violence occurs through the destruction of properties and religious places of the minorities. And 11% directly revolve around territorial disputes. Twenty-seven per cent of cases involve physical assault or murder. A total of 2% is gender-based violence and only 1% is election-based.

Insecurity prompts many Hindus to go to India, selling their properties at nominal prices.

While the residences and businesses of some Awami League leaders and supporters like Ghosh were attacked, the vast majority of the victims did not have any political affiliation.

Ghosh said there have also been reports of extortion. “The houses that have been attacked belong to well-off Hindus,” he said.

For instance, the Dhakata Tribune reported that the ancestral house of legendary Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Kumar Ghatak in Rajshahi's Miyapara area has been demolished, with many blaming the Rajshahi Homeopathic Medical College for the destruction.

Anisur Rahman, principal of the Homeopathic College, was reportedly behind the demolition of the historic structure, some cultural activists alleged. They claim that the college authorities have long attempted to demolish Ghatak’s house to use the land for other purposes. Cultural workers have repeatedly blocked these efforts.

In 2020, news of the college authorities attempting to demolish the house to build a bicycle garage sparked nationwide protests.

“A small number of them are political but other victims are non-political,” said Kajol Debnath of the Puja Celebration Committee. “The list of victims we submitted to the chief adviser didn’t include any political personalities… but some are trying to show all the attacks as politically motivated.”

More political, less communal

Although it is unclear who is behind the attacks, Shayan said that lots of political workers from different parties, including some Awami League-affiliated bodies, seem to have been involved.

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, which spearheaded the movement against Hasina, accused Awami League and allies of “killings, robberies and looting of the minorities” in an attempt to discredit the people’s uprising.

BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul distanced his party from the attacks, claiming that they were not involved.

Bangladesh’s interim government claims that the attacks are political in nature. Foreign affairs adviser Touhid Hossain on August 11 said the international media is reporting that attacks on minorities are going on. “This has more to do with politics than religion,” he said.

Accusing former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed of encroaching upon "hundreds of bighas" of land belonging to mostly Hindu families residing in Gopalganj, Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Parishad, had asked former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ensure justice in June this year.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which investigated Benazir, had found Benazir and his family bought at least 613.41 bighas of land in different districts, including 605.77 bighas in Gopalganj and Madaripur that once belonged to minority communities. Minority Hindus were forced to part away with their land out of fear.

Nahid Islam, one of the organisers of the student protesters who has been included in the interim government, echoed Hossain, claiming that the violence was more politically than religiously motivated and was meant to divide the country.

Kajol Debnath suggested against generalising the attacks. Nirmal concurred, adding that some of the victims have been targeted because of their religions. “Destruction of churches and temples makes it clear,” he said. “Their ultimate goal is to inflict fear among the minorities.”

The India connection

Conservative Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam accused India of playing a major role in disrupting the security of minorities.

“Since Hasina fled to India, some anti-Muslim Indian media and politicians have launched anti-Bangladesh campaigns, spreading rumours that minorities are being attacked in Bangladesh,” the group’s chief Mohibullah Babunagari and secretary general Sajedur Rahman said in a statement on August 11.

“This has caused fear among the minorities. We think India has a role in it (attack on minorities),” they said.

BNP leader Ishraq Hossain blamed Hasina and her allies for the attacks to discredit the revolution.

Shayan said that Delhi should be told in no uncertain terms that it is a problem, but it is our problem and we will take care of it.

Yunus promises action, seeks time

Meanwhile, the government launched a hotline on August 12 to contact the authorities concerned in case of attacks on temples, churches, pagodas, or any other religious institutions.

The chief adviser told the minority leaders that the previous governments did nothing to build a discrimination-free country. “We’re determined to do it,” he said.

Yunus said the fact that places of worship have to be guarded shows how vulnerable the minorities are in Bangladesh.

“Give us a chance. We want to start working to eliminate discrimination,” he said. “This is our promise.”