4 min readNew DelhiJan 24, 2025 04:54 PM IST
First published on: Jan 24, 2025 at 04:08 AM IST
As the new dispensation in Dhaka comes under increasing criticism for attacks on minorities in the wake of the regime change, the plight of the 19 minority MPs of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is a telling story.
After the dissolution of Parliament, three of them were sent to jail; most of the others are in hiding, in and outside the country.
Among those sent to jail were veteran Awami League leaders and former Cabinet Ministers: Ramesh Chandra Sen, Narayan Chandra, and Sadhan Chandra Majumdar.
Awami League leaders The Indian Express spoke to say there were around 2,000 incidents of arson, loot and burning involving the minorities (Hindus, Buddhists and Christians) between August 5 and August 20, 2024 and “scattered attacks” were still taking place every day.
According to Pankaj Nath, three-time MP from Barishal constituency (a former general secretary of the Bangladesh Awami Volunteers League, he fought the 2024 elections as an independent), almost all minority MPs have witnessed attacks on their properties and have had their bank accounts frozen.
Sheikh Hasina fled to India after protests toppled her government in August 2024
Nath’s residence in Dhaka was among them and while he himself is underground, his family, too, is “taking precautions” moving from “place to place” in Bangladesh. His personal anguish continues as he could not attend the last rites of his mother when she passed away on December 28.
On the continuing persecution of minorities and Dhaka’s request for extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Nath said: “If Sheikh Hasina announces that she will return to Bangladesh, will the interim Government be ready to receive her? Millions will rush to the border and the Government will not be able to handle the situation.”
“It is very clear,” Nath said, “that there is an attempt to rewrite history and take revenge for the historic events of 1971. The caretaker Government, led by Muhammad Yunus, is patronizing the attacks on minorities. Besides the rest of the international community, we now look to India to stop these crimes and restore equal rights of the minorities.”
Smoke rising from Ganabhaban, the PM’s residence, which was stormed by public shortly after Hasina’s resignation. (Reuters)
Last December, in the first high-level visit by India since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met his Bangladesh counterpart in Dhaka and conveyed “India’s concerns, especially those related to the safety and welfare of minorities”. India also flagged “some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious and diplomatic properties”.
Referring to the alleged incidents against minorities as “propaganda… false and misleading facts”, Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary, on his part, responded that “other countries” should refrain from commenting on Dhaka’s “internal matter”.
There is a sense of insecurity and foreboding among the Hindu community which, at about 8 per cent, is the largest minority population in the country of 170 million people. About (91.04%) of Bangladeshis are Muslims, and the remaining 9 percent has Hindus at (7.95%), Buddhists (0.61%) and Christians (0.30%) and others (0.12%) as per the 2022 census.
Activists during a protest march against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government in Dhaka on August 2. (File photo) 
Sheikh Hasina fled to India after protests toppled her government in August 2024
Smoke rising from Ganabhaban, the PM’s residence, which was stormed by public shortly after Hasina’s resignation. (Reuters)
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