Exhibition and Panel Discussion on ‘The Never-Ending Persecution of Minorities in Bangladesh’

On February 24, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized an exhibition and panel discussion titled ‘The Never-Ending Persecution of Minorities in Bangladesh,’ drawing attention to the ongoing violence faced by religious and ethnic minorities in the neighbouring country. The event brought together experts, diplomats, and journalists to discuss the worsening human rights crisis unfolding in Bangladesh. The panel discussion was chaired by VIF Director, Dr. Arvind Gupta, and featured former Deputy National Security Advisor, Sh. Satish Chandra; former High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri; Correspondent for French weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles François Gautier; and Chairman and Trustee of the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation Dr. Anirban Ganguly. The panel delved into the socio-political, religious, and international ramifications of the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh.

The event began with the inauguration of the photo exhibition documenting the persecution of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh from 1947 to the present day. The exhibition was inaugurated by the speakers of the panel discussion. The exhibition, curated by the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT), aptly highlighted the suffering of all the minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and Ahmadiyya Muslims. The destruction of places of worship of the minorities and desecration of religious idols was extensively captured in the exhibition. It also featured compelling visual documentation of human rights violations, forced displacements, and violent attacks on religious minorities. It displayed photographs and accounts that underscored the urgency of addressing the ongoing crisis.

After the inauguration of the exhibition, the focus shifted to the panel discussion. Each speaker provided critical insights into the historical and ongoing persecution of minorities in a highly Islamized Bangladesh, examining the socio-political and international dimensions of the crisis. Dr. Arvind Gupta delivered the opening remarks in which he briefly talked about the exhibition, which has captured the stories of persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh. He thanked Mr. François Gautier for organizing the exhibition, which has helped draw attention to the deteriorating situation of minorities in Bangladesh. Dr. Gupta talked about the events of August 2024, which saw the ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh and the return of Islamist radicals in Bangladesh. These developments were accompanied by the persecution of minorities and the deterioration of the law-and-order situation across Bangladesh.

Dr. Gupta talked about the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a telephonic conversation with the incumbent Chief Advisor of Bangladesh in August 2024, in which he raised the issue of safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh. However, the situation has not improved, and the minorities in Bangladesh are still living in fear and are trying to cross the international boundary and come to India. Dr. Gupta said that the current situation in Bangladesh is similar to the horrific events of 1971 in East Pakistan.

Former Deputy National Security Advisor Sh. Satish Chandra highlighted the plight of the Hindu community in the present-day political region of Bangladesh since 1947. He provides historical context, illustrating the drastic decline in the Hindu population due to systematic ethnic cleansing. From 28% of the population in 1941, the Hindu community in Bangladesh now constitutes only about 7.95%, with projections indicating their potential extinction by 2046.

He contrasts the migration patterns from West Pakistan and East Pakistan, noting that while West Pakistan saw a swift expulsion of minorities, the Hindu exodus from East Pakistan occurred in waves, notably in 1947-51 and during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. He details the atrocities committed against Hindus, including mass killings, forced migrations, and economic dispossession. The Pakistan Army and its local collaborators actively targeted Hindus in 1971, causing millions to flee, with only a fraction returning.

The suffering of Hindus did not end with Bangladesh’s independence. The early secular promise of the Mujib regime was short-lived, as successive military and BNP-led governments fostered Islamic fundamentalism. Even under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, religious intolerance persisted due to her political compromises with fundamentalist groups. The increasing Islamization of Bangladeshi society has led to continued Hindu migration, particularly during communal tensions or election periods.

Sh. Chandra attributes this crisis to the fundamental flaws in the two-nation theory and the failure of Indian and Pakistani leadership to manage the partition effectively. He argues that communal violence during the partition, such as the Calcutta and Noakhali massacres, irreversibly damaged Hindu-Muslim relations in Pakistan. Unlike West Pakistan, where a population exchange took place, Nehru opposed a similar approach for East Pakistan, relying instead on diplomatic agreements like the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, which failed to protect Hindus. Leaders like Patel and Rajendra Prasad had proposed land adjustments to accommodate displaced Hindus, but this idea was not pursued.

Given the current hostility towards Hindus in Bangladesh, Sh. Chandra warns of their impending extinction there. He criticizes India’s reluctance to take a firm stand, referencing historical instances where India failed to push its case, such as at the UNSC in 1948 or during the 1971 genocide. He calls for a stronger stance from India, advocating for parliamentary resolutions condemning Bangladesh, raising the issue in international forums, and implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to grant Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus while deporting illegal Muslim migrants. He highlighted the persistent persecution of minorities in Bangladesh as not only a national crisis confined within the political boundaries of Bangladesh but also a global human rights concern. Sh. Chandra concluded by emphasizing the urgency of proactive measures to ensure the security and dignity of Hindus in Bangladesh. His remarks underscore the urgent need for international intervention and diplomatic pressure to ensure the protection of these vulnerable populations in Bangladesh.

Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri emphasised the shocking series of events that happened in Bangladesh ever since the 5th of August 2024. This tragic cruelty imposed on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh did not happen for the first time. In 1971, the Pakistani government launched systematic ethnic cleansing of the Hindus in East Pakistan. This was followed by frequent attacks on Hindus in independent Bangladesh. The Sheikh Hasina government had some sort of control over the radical elements initiating these attacks, but after her ouster, the radical elements have been unleashed on the Bangladeshi minorities.

Amb. Sikri said that the vicious acts against the minorities in Bangladesh in August 2024 were a result of the recurrence of the losing side in 1971 in present-day Bangladesh. In 1971, the Pakistan state, along with the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Razakars, unleashed violence against Hindus. In 2024, the Jamaat-e-Islami again came to the forefront in committing atrocities against the minorities. This time, the Jamaat was backed by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, and was supported by the ‘deep state’ of the Biden Administration. The Interim Government led by Muhammad Yunus has completely denied these attacks on religious minorities and called them a creation of the Indian media.

She highlighted the alarming rise of religious extremism, which has led to increasing violence against Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and Ahmadiyya Muslims, which includes the destruction of places of worship and systemic discrimination. Amb. Sikri stressed the fact that these events of August 2024 were not a spontaneous occurrence or a so-called student uprising. It was neither spontaneous nor was it led by students. Mahfuz Alam, who is now Adviser and Special Assistant to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, was part of a secretive Dhaka University group called the “Gurubar Adda,” which included members of the banned Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir and Jamaat-e-Islami. At the Clinton Global Initiative held in September 2024, Yunus introduced Mahfuz Alam as the “brain” behind the student movement. The students’ movement was also linked to clandestine meetings between US diplomats and Dhaka-based academics.

Amb. Sikri called for stronger action from Bangladesh’s government to protect its minority populations and ensure their rights. She added that the international community must take a stronger stance in addressing these human rights abuses. The minorities in Bangladesh have said that they do not want to leave their country and are pleading for their rights to be protected. Therefore, the international community must make sure that the rights of the minorities in Bangladesh are protected.

Dr. Anirban Ganguly was vocal about the ongoing persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, particularly Hindus and Buddhists. Dr. Ganguly highlighted the contrast between the treatment of minorities in India and Bangladesh by giving the example of Pali being declared a classical language by the Prime Minister of India, whereas in Bangladesh the Buddhist community could not celebrate Kaṭhina Cībar Dān.

Predicting the marginalisation of minorities in the erstwhile eastern wing of Pakistan, the idea of a complete exchange of population on the eastern front was advocated by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Later on, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Sardar Patel advocated seeding of territory by Pakistan if it could not take care of its minorities. But these revolutionary ideas about breaking Pakistan were squashed at the Indian Parliament.

Dr. Ganguly talked about the insatiable appetite for violence of the so-called revolutionaries of the so-called Monsoon Revolution. These people were not satisfied in just burning Mujib’s house, Dhanmondi 32. They brought in bulldozers to raze the entire structure. Bulldozing Mujib’s house was a conscious attempt to completely bury the ideals of the 1971 liberation war. These people had earlier desecrated the War Memorial in Bangladesh. The ancestors of these people had opposed the language movement in the erstwhile eastern wing of Pakistan and supported the genocide in East Pakistan led by the Pakistani Army. These are the people who want a minority-free Bangladesh.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had mentioned that, “there are two grounds that have disturbed our relations with Pakistan; one is Kashmir and the other is the condition of our people in East Bengal (East Pakistan). I felt that we should be more deeply concerned with East Bengal, where the condition of our people seems intolerable.”

Dr. Ganguly said that the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) gave $29 million to Associate Professor Mohammad Aynul Islam of the Department of Political Science of Dhaka University, who was the Director of the Micro governance Research Initiative. This Micro governance Research Initiative held 444 programs involving 10,264 Bangladeshi students all across Bangladesh till September 2022. On January 7th, the aforementioned organisation funded the establishment of the Applied Democracy Lab at Dhaka University. These funds were channelled by the Biden administration under the guise of strengthening Bangladesh’s political infrastructure, but in reality, these funds were meant to influence and control the political realm in Bangladesh in favour of the US.

Dr. Ganguly criticized the concerted efforts of the people in the illegitimate “Interim Government” of Bangladesh to call the violence and persecution of minorities in Bangladesh during the so-called Students Movement in 2024 as political. They used the term revenge violence to refer to the violence that the Bangladeshi minorities faced in these turbulent times. Dr. Ganguly highlighted some of the atrocities against minorities, which included attacks on churches, attacks on Buddhist villages, occupation of Buddhist crematoriums, restrictions on Buddhist festivals, land grabbing, thousands of extortion cases, Hindus being forced to resign from their positions, a reduction in the number of Durga Pujas and vandalism of religious idols.
Dr. Ganguly criticised prominent intellectuals for their silence on this issue, questioning their lack of response to the suffering of minorities in Bangladesh. He also underscored the historical context of such persecution, noting that extremist groups aim to establish a "Hindus-free Bangladesh." Dr. Ganguly called for greater awareness and action, urging the Indian government to advocate for the protection of minorities in neighbouring countries, asserting that India cannot remain a bystander to these human rights violations.

Mr. François Gautier, correspondent for the French weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles, has extensively reported on the challenges faced by minorities in Bangladesh. Drawing from his journalistic experiences, Gautier highlighted that the systemic and sustained persecution has forced numerous Hindus and other minorities to flee their homes in Bangladesh. He emphasized that the international community's lack of concrete action has perpetuated this cycle of violence, allowing human rights violations to continue unabated. Gautier's insights underscore the urgent need for global awareness and intervention to address the humanitarian crisis affecting religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh.

Mr. Gautier talked about the exhibition, which focuses on the atrocities the Hindus, along with other minorities, have faced in Bangladesh since 1947. These types of exhibitions should be promoted, and he stressed the importance of spreading awareness about these atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh. He also urged India to stand for the rights of minorities in Bangladesh.

A significant moment of the event was the presence of Shri Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of India, underlining India’s deep concern over the plight of religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh. His presence at the event was symbolic of India’s ongoing commitment to raise awareness about the issue and engage in meaningful discourse to bring about change.

Dr. Gupta, in his closing remarks, said, "This event serves to raise awareness and promote discourse on the issues that matter most, such as the plight of minorities in Bangladesh."