There have been several cases of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh in the past, as well as some of them being victims of violent anger after the students’ movement that ousted the government of Sheikh Hasina (not all of them being religious but due to the fact that they were members/workers of Awami League).
But the sudden outpouring of attacks on Hindu minorities in the Indian social media scapes in the aftermath of the arrest of a Hindu monk, Chinmoy Krishna Das, as testimony of the vulnerabilities of minorities, needs to be taken with some skepticism.
First, ISKCON itself seems to distance itself from the said monk and had already suspended him weeks ago. The case against the monk does appear a little flimsy, as we have seen in India how activists may be victims of the state’s oppression, so there should be a demand for fair and transparent court proceedings.
But most of the evidence, videos, and photos being shared by the Hindutva eco-system, including BJP leaders, appear as part of systematic propaganda by sharing old, unrelated videos and photographs.
For example, an old video of the “Nagin dance” punishment to a thief has been used as Hindus being humiliated and beaten with a call to take revenge.
Similarly, a video of a fight between students of two colleges has been shared by Suvendu Adhikari and many others as Hindus being beaten to death.
A video being shared of an alleged attack by a Muslim mob in a village is, in reality, of a recent clash between two Muslim groups over the murder of a cleric, as per media reports and fact-checkers.
There is another video of a man being beaten to death brutally with the claim that a Hindu businessman Ambuj Sharma, was killed by Islamists in the aftermath of the students’ protest, once again urging the Indian government to intervene to protect Hindu minorities.
Fact-checkers and local reports suggest that there is no report of any person killed by that name. One fact-checker, in fact, pointed out that this video seems to be of an angry mob in the aftermath of the students’ protest, killing a (Muslim) police official.
There are similarly many widespread claims of tens of deaths and burning of houses, but those need to be supported with some evidence and not just wild claims. Meanwhile, we know, though, that a Muslim lawyer was beaten to death by the supporters of the monk (that possibly included Awami League cadre as well).
There seems to be no remorse or anger against it, rather a spin-off that he was a lawyer defending the monk and hence killed by Islamists. It appears now that the Reuters journalist possibly cooked up the quote; although they have quietly corrected their report, the damage has been done. Indian media and the Hindutva ecosystem in India have lapped it up already. Was this an innocent mistake by the Reuters’ journalist? Or was this part of the larger propaganda plan?
This is not to say that minorities may not have been attacked, but any criticism of the government must be supported with some evidence. Any such incident must be condemned, and the government must be made more accountable.
There is video evidence of police pelting stones in Sambhal, mob chanting provocative slogans and dancing in front of mosques during Hindu festivals, and police firing and killing young men protesting against arbitrary “survey.”
Least of all, those defending, celebrating, facilitating, and ignoring the everyday attack on minorities in their own country and accusing everyone outside the country who speak on the attack of minorities in India as “foreign interference” should look within before protesting. As Raj Kumar famously said, “Jinke apne ghar shish eke hote hain, who dusron ke ghar par patthar nahi mara karte” (those living in glass houses should not throw stones at others).
PS: It is an open secret that the Indian establishment has been comfortable with Sheikh Hasina in power due to her purported secular credentials, ignoring her atrocities on her own people, but by going overboard in its criticism of the present government of Muhammad Yunus, India is behaving like a sore loser. This will harm India’s interests in the long run as common Bangladeshis are increasingly frustrated with how not only India in the past stood by Hasina but has given her political asylum. These shortsighted outbursts and orchestrated protests outside its Deputy High Commission may help the BJP consolidate its base in Bengal but will not only harm its national interests but damage its image in its own backyard.
Amidst the ongoing rage, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary at the Chief Adviser’s Office of Bangladesh, wrote on Facebook: “…We must tell our stories our way. Else, they (India) will set our narrative according to their liking. Indians should know that smarter people also live in its eastern border, and a few months back these people have ousted a brutal dictatorship in one of the finest revolutions in human history!”
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