The IS has taken responsibility for the execution -style killing of a Hindu priest in Bangladesh.After many bloggers were slain last year,this killing demonstrates the resolve of  Jamait-e-Islami and other Muslim organizations to exterminate the last remaining Hindus in the Islamic Republic.

Currently,Hindus make up 8.2 percent of the country’s population making them the third largest Hindu population in the world after India and Nepal. Hindus made up more than 20 percent of the  population of  East Pakistan in 1970. The numbers had fallen down to about 14 percent in 1974.One can imagine that the Bangla genocide by the Pakistani army took its toll primarily upon the Hindus of East Pakistan.  Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, and Tasleema Nasreen’s Lajja have duly captured this anti-Hindu nature of the state of Bangladesh .The Hindu numbers had further plummeted to 9.3 percent by 2001.

US Right’s groups keep making humming about this anti-Hindu violence, but the matter never gets escalated to higher level. Its almost like Hindus have no one but themselves to speak for them. One can’t see this anti-minority nature of a Muslim state in isolation. Pakistan,Kashmir,Bangladesh,Malaysia,Afghanistan and almost all the Middle-Eastern Moslem countries have seen massively organized state violence directed against their minorities,which have seen dramatic fall in their numbers over the last 100 years or so. Liberal-left hardly ever takes up these issues, for it does not pay.

Have successive Indian governments raised the issue effectively with the Bangladesh Governments ? Should we not have leveraged our power to do something about it ? Unfortunately, it seems we suffer with some kind of ‘Elder Brother complex’ for being larger and more powerful than our neighbours, and have consistently refused to intercede (meddle) into what we dub as  their internal affairs .This shameless abdication of responsibility on our part has been seen as a sign of weakness by the Muslim street, who rightly consider Bangladeshi Hindus are considered as orphans.

Herein lies a prime exhibit of India’s tolerance and weakness .A petty issue like Dadri becomes a national issue, and the government of the day goes on the backfoot while defending it. The Left, TMC and Congress must  at least pay lip service in support of the Bengali Hindus.I’m sure it would not hurt their minority vote bank in India. Or would it not?

Postscript- I wrote the above piece in early 2016. Hindus are being systematically hounded and killed in October 2021 as well, this time on the occasion of Durga Puja. This time the excuse has been the desecration of Quran. It has turned out to be a conspiracy, as even the Sheikh Hasina Government has acknowledged. The GOI has not made much noise. In facts, some minions have termed this as minor issue. Bangladesh authorities have made numerous arrests and pledged to crack down on the miscreants. Proof of pudding is in the eating. There is also vague talk of bringing back the Secular Constitution of 1972. A couple of marches have been taken out by civil society in Dhaka. Indian liberals, left and Islamo-apologists have gone gaga, and are pointing towards the large-heartedness of the Bangladeshi Muslims, in contrast with Indian Hindus (who should be coming out on streets against so-called Muslim pogrom in India!). Sheikh Hasina has also advised India to not set a bad example for the neighbourhood, and maintain peace and harmony. India is silent, as it cannot afford to antagonize Hasina, and push her completely into the arms of China.

Meanwhile, CAA is back in news, as is the NRC. Let’s see what the future holds. Hindus across the subcontinent must be given the Right to Return. Till then, Bangladeshi Hindus must arm themselves, and hit back. That is the only language that jihadis understand.

#bangladesh #Hindusindanger #Hindus #savehindus #eastpakistan #dwindlingpopulationofhindus #genocide
#muktibahini #taslimanasreen #amitavghosh #lajja #theshadowlines