Anti-Hindu incidents, such as sacking of a teacher for allegedly insulting Islam and radicals asking the community to leave Bangladesh, have become an everyday affair in the neighbouring country, top Indian government sources told CNN-News18, adding that the propaganda was aimed at spreading panic among Hindus.
“From Dhaka to Chittagong, hatred is being spread by radicals to create panic among Hindus and impress non-State actors as well as Jamaat. We are watching the situation closely and aim to speak to our counterparts soon to stop this. The incidents have seen an increase just before Durga Puja to stop any Hindu events from being celebrated in Bangladesh,” they said.
The first incident that hogged headlines was when Shrestha Halder, a professor, was fired from her job after falsely accusing her of insulting Islam. Hindus from Bangladesh are being forced to resign from their jobs or dismissed with false cases. Halder had taken to social media to challenge the Islamists’ 16 demands regarding Durga Puja.
Soon, a video started circulating on social media in which a large number of Jamaat-e-Islami radicals were seen threatening Hindus and asking them to go back to India. In the video, the men can be heard saying that Bangladesh was not Gujarat or Delhi “where you show Durga Puja weapons and get away. This is Islamic Bangladesh, not India where you kill Muslim brothers and get away with it”.
Asking Hindus to leave the country as soon as possible, the Maulvis say: “Don’t force us to come on the streets and protest. This land belongs to Muslims and no one else.”
CNN-News18 had reported earlier that Hindus are not receiving any support after the new interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over in the neighbouring country. Extremist Muslims are trying to forcibly evict Hindu businessmen by threatening them and using foul language, sources had said, referring to an incident in Dhaka’s beehive market.
Bangladeshi Muslims are also demonstrating on the streets of Dhaka, saying they will not allow Durga Puja in areas where the festival is celebrated every year. Earlier, many puja committees received threat letters while a Durga Puja pandal in Kishore Ganj was destroyed.
The minority Hindu population faced vandalism of their businesses, properties and destruction of temples during the student-led violence that erupted after the fall of the Hasina-led government. After unprecedented anti-government protests that peaked on August 5, she had resigned as prime minister and fled to India. In August, thousands of Hindus staged protests in Dhaka and the northeastern port city of Chattogram, demanding protection.
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