How Far Bangladesh Is Protecting Its Minority Rights

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries with across 50 ethnic minority groups, the second most in South Asia. In a sense, four prominent religious groups live in Bangladesh. From the inception of Bangladesh’s independence, the people from these different communities have lived here in Bangladesh peacefully. Among 170 million people, about 91.04% of people are Muslims in Bangladesh. Despite that, the other 8.96% people are living here not demeaning themselves as a minority. The article six(6) constitutions of the People's Republic of Bangladesh reflects that “All the citizens of Bangladesh are recognized as a Bangladeshi, not as a Bengali” which clearly ensures the equal opportunity, basic rights and living standards for each of the citizens, whether they are Muslims or Hindus, Christians, or Buddhist communities, it doesn’t bother at all.

According to the Global Peace Index, Bangladesh is ahead of the United States of America in the list, isn’t it terrifying! 7.95% Hindus live in Bangladesh, the largest number of minorities, rather than others. Actually, Bangladesh, most of the time, has been criticized due to the Hindu communities' perspectives. But the people of Bangladesh believe Hindus are living here most safely along with other minorities. Communal harmony is always in Bangladesh. But some occurrences raise serious questions about this harmony. Again, mixing propaganda makes the issues very spicy, which is enough to manipulate the image of Bangladesh. It is a fact that, regarding political advantage, some miscreants try to create dissension between the Muslim and Hindu communities.

As Bangladesh's biggest neighbour, India is a Hindu-majority country that has played a bigger role in shaping this communal disharmony in their own way. Due to political reasons, they don't even hesitate to complain towards the United States of America so that Bangladesh can feel the pressure and obey India’s hegemony. Exaggerated false news circulated by the Indian media is another crucial weapon to destroy the image of Bangladesh in international scenarios. Now the debate is, is Bangladesh repressing their minorities, especially Hindus?

Actually, Bangladesh is very friendly to its citizens from the beginning. There are a lot of incidents happening surrounding minorities in Bangladesh, especially against the basis of Hindu minorities. After 5th August, 2024, the allegation came upfront in big numbers. Even a lot of Countries like the United States of America, the United Kingdom and many other organizations like the European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and particularly the Indian Media exaggerated the issues, which is an unbearable image crisis for Bangladesh. The fact is that the previous Awami League-led government used Hindu minorities as their political trump card by which they fulfilled their demand from the Indian side. Ironically, the Awami League-led government played a divide-and-rule game over Muslim led political parties and the Hindu community. This is the reason why the political enigma among minorities existed between 2009 to 2024 despite Hindu minorities getting backed up by the government and the Indian side now and then. However, the misinformation and circulations of propaganda by the Indian media against Bangladesh makes the relations between Bangladesh and India very shaky. From Bangladeshi perspectives, the Interim government, over and over again, upholds their stance that the issue has been exaggerated for geographical strategic advantage. A recent incident may be suitable for analysing the issue profoundly. In November 2024, the spokesman of ISKCON was arrested for anti-state acts for slamming the national flag of Bangladesh, which is very much normal for the authority to take action against any sort of humiliation against its sovereignty for any citizens themselves. But the way things happened was not ideal for Bangladesh. Before the high court bench of Chattogram, a lawyer was assassinated by the radical Hindu ISKCON community. Even the chauvinists of Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from India attacked the Agartala Assistant  High Commission of Bangladesh and the Deputy High Commission of Kolkata. In that case, India’s action was questionable. According to the Vienna Convention, Article 22 indicates, “No one can enter the premises of an external country’s mission without the consent of the Head of the mission, not even local fire service personnel.” But in front of local police, the mob massacred those two sub-missions' premises. In this case, India should be ashamed of itself, rather they are asserting a deep concern for the internal issues of Bangladesh. Even some footage had been telecast by Republic Bangla, a TV channel of India, about a massacre of some idols of the Hindu community, which actually happened in West Bengal in the year 2023, which fanned the momentum as well. Even the Hindus of West Bengal boycotted the Republic Bangla, which reflects the obvious reactions of the Hindu-Muslim dichotomy. Apart from that, there are a lot of incidents that have been presented as Overhyped issues that should not have been nurtured at all. Again, this will also be wrong if I do not admit that there are really some isolated incidents carried out by some Islamic extremists. There is no single government in the world that can avoid this sort of chaos 100 percent in the World.

A report by the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism (CSS) claims that there were 59 communal riots in India in 2024, which is an 84% increase from 2023. Again in 2024, the United Christian Forum (UCF) documented 834 confirmed cases of harassment or violence against Christians. India Hate Lab reports that 1,165 hate speech incidents took place in person in 2024, this number is 74.4%  over 2023.  In those cases, Christians and Muslims were the targets of more than 75% of these speeches. Even India passed two prominent laws, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), for preserving the national identity for minorities or those who come from its neighbouring countries except Muslims and Bengali-speaking peoples. The Recent Amendment of the Waqf bill and the reduction of Kashmir's special status from the constitution are adequate to understand the level of Indian atrocities. That is a clear discrimination against those minorities. 

But does Bangladesh ever raise any questions against those irregularities of the neighboring states? But in Bangladesh, there is no single evidence to pass a law that has been enforced against Hindus or other minorities. The Constitution of Bangladesh  (Articles 2A and 41) guarantees freedom of religion for all citizens. The government runs the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust, which provides financial support for religious, cultural, and social activities within the Hindu community. To celebrate Durga Puja, the Government deploys law enforcement to ensure the security of the Durga Puja mandap. Notably, last year, Bangladesh Jamaat E Islam guarded the Hindu Durga puja mandap to avoid any sort of casualties. This gesture truly proved how desperate Bangladeshi people are to ensure to abolish the blame against them. Lastly,  Bangladesh is a safe home for all citizens equally; this culture will make strong communal harmony for all classes of Bangladeshi people, which is also expected to.

 
Md. Al-Amin writes on
diplomacy, foreign policy, border 
conflicts and security issues.