26 November . . .
India remembers this day as Mumbai terror attack. But on 26 November, Bangladesh will also remember this day as a terrorist attack At 12 noon, Judge Kazi denies a bail application in Chittagong's 6th Metropolitan Magistrate Court. The bail application was filed by former ISKCON Bangladesh leader Chinmoy Krishna das.
When bail application was denied Chinmoy's supporters clash with police and police could not handle them Van that was to take Chinmoy jail was punctured Police does all the work, fires, drops grenades, charges batons, chaos ensues By 3 pm, the police somehow clears the area and Chinmoy is taken to jail in a police pickup truck. Chinmoy was telling his followers to keep calm and appealed to his supporters from inside the prison van. But when they tried to chase away the supporters, they also did stone pelting and burnt down the cars Lawyers chambers were also destroyed In this same situation, Saiful Islam, an assistant public prosecutor was also killed.
Four months have passed since the student revolution which pushed Sheikh Hasina government out of Bangladesh after 15 years. Sheikh Hasina fled to India and took refuge here. But now, four months later, questions are being raised that this revolution, this student revolution, this second independence of Bangladesh .
. how peaceful how progressive how stable how secular Bangladesh will it make? Attack on Hindus and other minorities is happening and politics is played on social media Now, the recent incidents have become a test case of this transition government.
Will it be able to handle its radical elements? Why is minority prosecution being done in this way? Why is such a witch hunt being done in the court?
Look, the thing is clear. Either Bangladesh will become a secular state, or there are Islamic parties there they will again create their own pressure. And we are getting clear indications of this now.
So, will the revolution go wrong or will the revolution remain right? What has the Yunus government done since transition? Why are the protests increasing?
Is it politics or genuine unhappiness? Which way is Bangladesh going? We can take tough action, blockade, and other actions are open.
But if we do this, will Bangladesh sit on the lap of China again? And anyway, there is such a big distrust for India in Bangladesh. So how to solve that?
the Hindus are there, the minorities should also be protected. And our relationship with Bangladesh should also improve. Let's find out in today's episode On 25th October, a sedition case was filed against Chinmoy Das.
Allegedly, and I am saying allegedly because there is no clarity on this, for disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag. The allegation is that he hoisted a saffron flag which was on top of Bangladesh's flag Hoisting happened at Bangladesh's Sanatan Jagran Manch. To understand whether it is frivolous or not, you have to see who filed the case.
The case was filed by a local BNP leader, named Firoz Khan who was later expelled from his own party. Chinmoy Das is the spokesperson of Bangladesh's Sanatan Jagran Manch A few months back, he was removed from the organization on charges of discipline and anti-ISKCON activities. But he is a popular leader in Bangladesh So, his popularity has increased further in Bangladesh after this case And the Indian government is also worried.
But after a day, when all these things were happening, when the court case was going on, the Bangladesh government put itself in another corner. with that demand, the government agreed that ISKCON should be banned Lawyer quoted a newspaper article, not fact Article said that ISKCON is radical fundamentalist organization That is why the court was requested that on the basis of this newspaper report, ISKCON should be banned in Bangladesh. Student leaders were also in favour of this.
Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam demanded that ISKCON should be banned immediately. Because ISKCON is spreading tyranny in the country. Because this organization is an extremist.
When all these statements were made, Attorney General Mohammad Asaduzzaman said that the case may be closed but we will not ban it. We will see what action the government takes. But the most important thing is that the ridiculous demand of banning an organisation based on one newspaper report.
But here is the law and order of Bangladesh Now, because of this, India and Bangladesh's relationship which was already very problematic, since Sheikh Haseena was removed, has worsened Our Ministry of External Affairs called the arrest of Chinmoy Das matter of deep concern and obviously, it is not just about them, it is a matter of the other Hindus, the minorities, are being attacked constantly. MEA issued a statement and clearly stated that they have noticed that the arrest, the denial of bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das who is the spokesperson of Bangladesh Sanatan Jagran Marj, follows the attacks against the Hindus. This is not an isolated instance.
We will ask the authorities to take care of the minorities. Allow them to make their demands. On the other hand, the state opposition leader of West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari has threatened to initiate a blockade if Das is not released.
But, see, relations have deteriorated. A few hours later, Bangladesh government stopped our government from interfering in Bangladesh's internal affairs. Bangladesh ministry issued a statement saying that these are unfounded statements, misrepresented facts, contrary to the spirit of friendship and understanding between two neighbouring countries.
at one point the relations between two countries were good, India played a key role Now, they are not talking to each other on the telephone. They are issuing statements. Chinmoy Das is the head of Pundarik Dham He was the division secretary of ISKCON between 2016 and 2022.
Chinmoy Das was dismissed from his position three months ago due to internal conflicts. But, it is clear that he is still prominent even after being dismissed from the organization. In August, when Sheikh Hasina was dismissed from the country, some Hindu organizations formed Sanatan Jagran Manch to work for the protection of minority rights.
Chinmoy Das became the spokesperson of this organization and addressed people On 25th October, during a speech, on the azadi chowk of New Market Intersection, the saffron flag was raised on Bangladesh national flag. . .
This can be considered a disrespect. But such a big reaction, such a big court case, such a big bail denial, directly banning ISKCON, this thing the Indian government is taking in this context, that a chronology is going on here Now in the meantime, Indian media, Indian social media is also putting fuel to fire For example, the death of Saiful Islam, actually it was shown in Indian media, that he was Chinmoy Das's lawyer and that is why he was lynched. big publications like Republic, First Post, India Today, etc.
This story was published without verifying. This was also spread on Twitter. When this news reached Bangladesh, then one thing was seen that how an agenda is also being run against Bangladesh.
A massive distrust has formed against Indians, Hindus and Indian govt in Bangladesh So the question now arises, that the way a revolution had come, the way students had protested, Bangladesh was about to have a new beginning, what about that? The day of 5th August, remember, movement primarily led by students, who were not affiliated with any political party, it was a genuinely organic uprising. We covered this uprising in detail on Deshbhakt.
And we always emphasized on this that all the people we talked to, all the people we questioned and researched it was a non-political movement. Job Quota, that 30% reservation in the Civil Service Post will be for children and grandchildren of freedom fighters. Basically, Sheikh Hasina was trying to get her special people in the civil service.
And this re-ignited the big debate that is this fair? This quota system where these children and grandchildren of freedom fighters, who are they? Are they even that many or not?
Is this a political move or not? And this is how a peaceful protest starts. Then the government starts to take action.
Then they are called Children of Razaqars, then bullets are fired, 1000 to 2000 protesters killed After this, the revolution that comes, it seems that it is fine, there is Muhammad Yunus, an interim government, A nobel prize winner steering Bangladesh Has that steering towards democracy happened? Take lynchings, robbery and violence against minorities, no one can deny this. One reason for this is that the entire policing system with Haseena government was also shattered.
When she went out, the policing system in her control was also completely broken. Because of this, anti-social elements have been so much encouraged in the last four months And they have attacked people. In September, the news came that two students were lynched because they were student union members of the Awami League.
So, being a student union member was enough for your lynching. Mob justice was going on. And slowly, the culture of mob violence has started to grow in Bangladesh It has become normalized and violence against minorities has become acceptable.
On 3rd October, 7 idols were vandalized. A few days before that, 9 idols were broken in Pabna district On 11th October, a Molotov cocktail was hurled on a Pooja Mandap in Tanti Bazar, Dhaka. A stabbing attack injured 5 people During Durga Puja, it seemed that violence would be on a very high level.
But somewhere, the Yunus government tried to control the situation. More than 80,000 volunteers were assigned to more than 30,000 puja mandap in the country But you can understand how volatile the situation is, that what will happen to Hindus there without these volunteers, without this security? That is why the Hindu and other minorities of Bangladesh have to raise their voices, that the interim government is failing to save them.
The ideals and promises made in student uprising were not visible on the ground. If such attacks continue, Hindus will have to remain scared during Durga Puja Thousands of Hindus held a rally in Chittagong on 1st November. Anti-Hindu violence was being carried out in the country.
Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council of Bangladesh said at the same time that more than 2000 attacked in the country happened on minorities after 4th August. Some say this is a conservative estimate. Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has put an 8 point demand before the interim government that this is the most important demand, a special tribunal should be formed which takes swift action on anti-minority violence.
The way they showed proactive attitude on crimes during anti Hasina protest. . .
similarly minorities demand that crime against them be investigated The government has not taken any drastic step to stop the attack on minorities 15 sep - interim govt made a textbook committee. . Islamic organizations said that not a single Muslim scholar is in this 10-member coordination committee Two people are anti-religion.
So, the interim government didn't take a strong stance, didn't balance, surrendered in front of threats and disbanded the committee. This shows where Bangladesh can go in a direction it shouldn't go. Along with this, another shocking news is that some student leaders who were very important parts of the movement, finally it is found that they were affiliated with the Jamaat.
So, this brings up another point that what was the role of the Jamaat in the Anti-Hasina protest? It is true that if any affiliation comes out of the Jamaat, it does not mean that you discredit the entire revolution or that the Jamaat was funded or planned But doubts are arising in the minds of the people. In September, in Chittagong Hill tract, there was a large-scale attack on the tribals.
So, the situation is bad for all minorities. And the assurance given by Yunus the worst thing we feel at the moment, that Yunus had given assurance to the Indian government, to the Hindus, that no minority community would be hurt Otherwise this revolution will not succeed, so he gave personal guarantee then why not work has been done? Yunus does not have magical solution, but 4 months have passed Rising unemployment, spiraling prices, lack of electoral road map, when will elections be held we do not know yet The way court cases are going on, talks on banning ISKCON, defamation, sedition, is this the only thing left for Bangladesh to do When will you do the rest of the work?
Task number 1, how will you revamp your constitution Task 2 - how will you find the people who were responsible for torture and violation of human rights? Task number 3, when will you bring back 17 billion dollars, which were stolen after fall of Hasina govt Task number 4, how will you balance the Islamists who were suppressed in old regime? 5.
You are 2nd largest garment manufacturer in the world. . .
Will you be able to maintain that? Task number 6. Should the Awami League, the biggest and oldest political party, run for office or not?
Will the Chhatra League remain an illegal terrorist organization? Or will there be a reconciliation with them? You have so many tasks.
Why are you after ISKCON? So, somewhere, a lack of direction is clearly visible. And what should be the direction?
According to experts, the issue is about rebuild vs. revenge. It is up to Yunus govt to decide whether you want to rebuild or take revenge.
It seems that if someone is raising a voice, you follow him. You have called Chhatra League a terrorist organization. Yes they have done many wrongs.
But If they raise a voice, raise two slogans, then you will say that they are doing this against the country Then you are doing the work of Sheikh Hasina yourself. So this cycle of violence will continue. The same is the case with journalists.
What are reporters without borders saying? They are saying that the way you raided the office, the way you are attacking, whether it is Daily Star or Prothom Alo, it clearly shows that the pressure on journalism and journalists are still under pressure. we see protests in Bangladesh.
Battery-run rickshaw drivers, garment workers, students from different educational institutions, and even local residents are protesting. What is happening? Why are so many people unhappy and confused after four months of your revolution?
You have to answer this question And the answer to this question can't be that the protests that are happening now are part of a deeper conspiracy Now do some work and focus a little. . But no, we will focus more on which flag was raised above United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights gave a talk in Dhaka University recently And he said a very good thing about human rights.
Healing is a very important factor. If you want to approach human rights, you need to have truth, justice, but healing is an important factor. If you don't heal, your legacy of violence will just keep on going in a circle You have to go to the root cause and think about transforming society.
If you don't have broad-based, national-level, inclusive solutions, you will lose the opportunity Find who is behind longstanding human right violation, but you cannot blame once you restart If a party is outdated and people have problems with it, it will die. You have to increase social cohesion. But here we are seeing the opposite.
Minorities are living in fear. So, somewhere, Bangladesh and Yunus government will have to see this. If you don't see, you will not get help from the international community.
Already, look, talk about UK There, MPs are clearly saying that how Islamist extremist parties are coming back to power. Talk about India, Bangladesh, whatever you say, you are a neighbor, you have to live together. You are very close, you have a lot of proximity, you have a lot of history, you have a lot of alliances.
Otherwise, you will sit in China's lap and no solution will come out of it, what China is doing with other countries. On the other side, you have Myanmar, refugee crisis, Trump is also coming to tighten screws you have to find a stable, balanced, secular, multicultural solution. And that's why I'm saying that Bangladesh has to work towards greater accountability.
Institutions need to be revamped. Authoritarianism needs to be reduced. Corruption needs to be reduced.
Not that authoritarianism needs to be increased. So, for this, everyone has to work together. You cannot just persecute one community and then blame another.
Boycott other. You have to embrace multiculturalism. Everyone will get their rights in Bangladesh.
Only then South Asia's rising star will return to its economic growth trajectory. Where there will be rule of law, good governance, inclusive growth and human rights. There have been many incidents in Bangladesh in 2024.
We will hope that we had accepted the revolution very well, we had cheered a lot, an authoritarian leader was removed 15 years later, but now the people will have to work together, they will have to help each other, otherwise if you are stuck in this WhatsApp, social media, media hype, propaganda, hate, if you get stuck in this, then that same old Bangladesh will be in your hands again.
