Bangladesh remains in the headlines after the coup and violence. Amidst the violence and arson in Bangladesh, miscreants have now started targeting minority Hindus. Houses and shops of Hindus are being set on fire, even Hindu temples built in Bangladesh have now become victims of this violence. Meherpur ISKCON temple in Bangladesh has also been set on fire. This is not the first time, Hindus have been under attack in Bangladesh for years. There have been many reports of vandalism and looting of Hindu temples, houses, shops, pandals. Even before this, many cases of attacks on ISKCON temple and Hindus have come to light in Bangladesh.
There was vandalism and looting in ISKCON, Dhaka in the year 2022
In the last four years, 2021, 2022 and now 2024, there have been three attacks on the ISKCON temple of Bangladesh. In the year 2022, this attack took place at 7 pm in the ISKCON Radhakanta Temple located at 222 Lal Mohan Saha Street in Wari, Dhaka. This attack was carried out by a mob of more than 200 people under the leadership of Haji Saifullah. Like now, during that time also the temple was vandalized and looted. Sumantra Chandra Shravan, Nihar Haldar, Rajeev Bhadra and many others were also injured in the attack.
Assault with devotees of ISKCON temple in the year 2021
In the year 2021, ISKCON temple was attacked by a mob in Noakhali, Bangladesh. Even at that time the temple was heavily vandalized. Not only this, the devotees present in the temple were also beaten up. After this attack, information about the attack was given by ISKCON through a tweet. ISKCON had released pictures of the attack and said, “Today a mob violently attacked the ISKCON temple and devotees in Noakhali, Bangladesh. The temple has suffered a lot of damage and the condition of many devotees remains critical. We demand the Bangladesh government to ensure the safety of Hindus and bring the culprits to justice.
Durga pandals on 13th October attacked in
Everyone is aware of the daily attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. One such attack was carried out during Navratri days. On the day of 13 October, Hindus living all over the world including India were immersed in the joy of worshiping Goddess Durga on the Ashtami of Navratri. At such a time, in Comilla, located 100 kilometers away from Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, a mob was instigated against Hindus with the help of a rumor related to religion and Durga Puja pandals, temples and houses of Hindu community people were attacked and vandalized. And arson was committed. Before this, there had been several attacks on Durga pandals and temples. Three people were killed in these attacks. While more than 500 Hindus were injured.
Attacks did not stop even after PM’s peace appeal
During this time, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had appealed to the people for peace and ordered strict action but the violence did not stop. The violence continued for three days. The fire of violence that started from Comilla spread to many areas including Noakhali, Feni Sadar, Chowmuhani, Rangpur, Peerganj, Chandpur, Chittagong, Ghazipur, Bandarban, Chapainwabganj and Moulvibazar. Places of worship were vandalized. At least six people were killed in this violence while incidents of attacks, vandalism, looting and arson also took place in 60 puja pavilions.
Continuous increase in attacks on Hindus in last one decade
According to AKS, an organization working on minority rights in Bangladesh, in the last 9 years from 2021, minorities in Bangladesh faced attacks 3679 times. During this period, 1678 cases of vandalism and armed attacks in religious places were reported. Apart from this, there have been continuous attacks targeting the Hindu community including vandalism and arson of houses. Especially after the victory of Awami League in the 2014 elections, violent incidents took place on a large scale in which the Hindu community was targeted. In these attacks that took place in 9 years, 11 people from the Hindu community lost their lives and 862 people were injured.
People from other minority communities have also become targets
In the year 2016 also, incidents of violence took place and 7 people lost their lives. Terrorist organizations were also said to be behind these attacks. There have been frequent attacks in Bangladesh in the last few years targeting not only Hindus but also other minority communities. In the years 2019 and 2020, apart from Hindus, attacks have also been carried out targeting the Ahmadiyya community. Their shops, houses and businesses were set on fire. In the last eight years, four attacks were also carried out targeting the Buddhist community.
Hindu population decreased in Bangladesh
Oppression of Hindus has been going on in Bangladesh for years. The share of Hindus in the population of Bangladesh has declined from 22 percent in 1951 to less than 8 percent in 2022. This is when the population of Muslims has increased from 76 percent in 1951 to more than 91 percent. According to the Hindu American Foundation, more than 11 million Hindus left Bangladesh between 1964 and 2013 due to religious persecution. Every year 230,000 Hindus are leaving the country. If we look at the numbers, there are about 15 crore Muslims in Bangladesh and after that 1.31 crore population is of Hindus. Apart from these, there are 10 lakh people following Buddhism, 4.95 lakh Christians and 1.98 lakh people following other religions in Bangladesh. In the 2011 census this number came down to only 8.5 percent. In 2022 it has reduced to less than eight percent.
Hindus are forced to leave the country
According to DW, the 2011 census showed that one million Hindus disappeared from the country’s population between 2000 and 2010. This decline was not only due to migration from Bangladesh but also due to high birth rate among Muslims. The state religion of Bangladesh is Islam, but the Awami League government reintroduced ‘secularism’ into the preamble in 2011. A ‘secular’ Awami League government was in place under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, yet religious minorities have been facing such attacks and persecution in the last 15 years.