Bangladesh Should Realise It Were Hindus Who Played Key Role in Liberation War: VHP Spokesman

Bangladesh, where Hindus make up approximately 8 percent of the total population, has witnessed a spike in attacks on the Hindu places of worship, coupled with allegations of sexual assaults on Hindu women being reported following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a violent student uprising in August this year.

In the most recent icident, top Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested on the charges of sedition this week. Das, a vocal advocate of Hindu rights in Bangladesh, had become the face of pro-Hindu demonstrations in Bangladesh, leading a bunch of large rallies, and urging the Muhammad Yunus government to ensure the safety of Hindus there.

The detention of Das, subsequently, resulted in a massive backlash, with thousands of Hindus taking to the streets in Bangladesh in addition to sparking a global outcry.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also reacted to his arrest, expressing concerns over the treatment of Hindus in the neighbouring state.

"We have noted with deep concern the arrest and denial of bail to Shri Chinmoy Krishna Das, who is also the spokesperson of the Bangladesh Sammilit Sanatan Jagran Jote. This incident follows the multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh. There are several documented cases of arson and looting of minorities' homes and business establishments, as well as theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples," the MEA statement read.

Hours after his arrest, the Bangladesh government supported a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), an organisation Das was previously associated with.

"The ongoing atrocities against the Hindus highlight the kind of control Islamic radical groups have in Bangladesh. There's little doubt that India's neighbouring country has been gripped and captured by the Islamist jihadist forces, which is neither in the interest of Bangladesh's global standing, nor in the interest of its long-standing ties with Bharat (India)," Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal told Sputnik India on Thursday.

The current situation raises doubts about India's neighbours who remain mum when fundamentalists deliberately target Hindus and other minorities, Bansal added. All this is happening in a constitutionally secular country, he underlined.

Bangladeshis should realise that the same Hindu community played a key role in their liberation war from Pakistan: in fact, millions of Hindus suffered mass murder and sexual violence at the hands of Pakistani troops before India intervened and helped Bangladesh to attain independence in 1971, Bansal highlighted.

"However, the worrying sign in the present incidents of arson, vandalism, and sexual atrocities against the Hindus is that the state is complicit in the crimes committed by the Islamists. That's why Hindus are being framed and implicated in false cases fabricated by extremist fundamentalist forces so that Hindus are forced to surrender to the situation or are compelled to convert to Islam or, as a last resort, leave Bangladesh altogether," Bansal added.

Bansal noted that the current situation could lead to abolishing the secular credentials of Bangladesh laid by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bansal reckoned.

"The incumbent government in Bangladesh should be wary of cozying up with [Islamists], considering what has happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have seen in history what the rise of Islamism has done to those two countries. [Their] economies are still experiencing the growing challenges posed by decades of political instability," Bansal observed.