Hindus are under attack in Bangladesh: Why it is right time for Indian Muslims to stand up and protest
FirstpostLast week, barely eight months after the 2021 Durga Puja violence, Bangladesh was again rocked by anti-Hindu protests — this time over an allegedly offensive Facebook post about Islam In its issue of 6 November 2021, The Economist carried a piece headed, “Bangladesh’s religious minorities are under attack”, commenting on widespread anti-Hindu violence a few weeks earlier during which rioters beat Hindus and attacked their properties. Last week, barely eight months later, Bangladesh was again rocked by anti-Hindu protests — this time over an allegedly offensive Facebook post about Islam. Bangladesh’s history of how it treats its Hindu minority is not just embarrassing but shameful for a self-avowed liberal democracy which was born out of a mass struggle for equal rights and social justice and is ruled by the acclaimed revolutionary Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League now headed by his daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed. I’ve rarely seen Indian Muslims stand up for persecuted minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh; likewise, minorities in those countries have little time for them.