Bangla responsibility to protect minorities, India underlines; Hasina calls for Hindu monk release

Hasina, who was ousted on August 5 after a mass protest against her government, also demanded punishment for those involved in the murder of a lawyer in Chattogram, and said the “unconstitutional” government led by Muhammad Yunus had failed to provide security to common people, according to a statement in the Bengali language posted on the party’s X account.

“A top leader of the Sanatan religious community has been unjustly arrested, he must be released immediately,” Hasina said.

She said a temple had been burnt in Chattogram, and recalled that mosques, shrines, churches, monasteries and homes of the Ahmadiyya community were attacked, vandalised, looted and set on fire in the past.

In New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Rajya Sabha: “Several incidents of desecration and damage to Hindu temples and deities in Bangladesh have been reported in the past few months. The Government of India has expressed its concern about such incidents, including the attack on a puja mandap in Tantibazar, Dhaka and the theft at the Jeshoreshwari Kali temple at Satkhira during Durga Puja 2024.”

Replying to a question by RJD member A D Singh on whether there has been an increase in such incidents and if the Indian government had taken up the issue with Dhaka, the MoS said New Delhi had called on the Bangladesh government to ensure the safety of Hindus and other minorities and their places of worship. “The primary responsibility for the protection of life and liberty of all citizens of Bangladesh, including minorities, rests with the government of Bangladesh,” the MoS said.

A day after Bangladesh police arrested Das on sedition charges and a court on Tuesday denied him bail, India had expressed “deep concern” and urged authorities “to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities” in the neighbouring country. Hours later, Dhaka had described the issue as “internal affairs of Bangladesh”. It had said that “such unfounded statements not only misrepresent facts, but also stand contrary to the spirit of friendship and understanding between the two neighbouring countries”.

This is the latest instance of New Delhi raising the issue of safety of Hindus in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously raised the issue in public statements and in phone conversation with Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh interim government, Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Local media reports in Bangladesh said Das, who has been leading rallies demanding security for Hindus, was arrested from Dhaka’s main airport on Monday while travelling to Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh. He faces charges of sedition filed in October after he led a rally in Chattogram in which he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag.

Das is a member of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group and is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

A case was filed against Das and 18 others on October 30 at Chattogram’s Kotwali police station based on the complaint of a leader of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which accused them of disrespecting the national flag in the city’s Laldighi Maidan during a rally of the Hindu community on October 25.

A Bangladeshi court on Tuesday denied bail to Das and sent him to prison, triggering protests by community members in various locations, including Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram.