Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called for a United Nations peacekeeping force be deployed in Bangladesh and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal intervention to secure the safety of religious minorities in the violence-hit neighbouring nation.
Ms Banerjee’s demands come amid reports that at least three Hindu priests – from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness – have been arrested in civil unrest that has roiled Bangladesh since August, when a student-led rebellion forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stand down and the Army took over, before an interim government was installed.
“We have families… properties… and loved ones in Bangladesh. We accept whatever stance the Government of India takes on this…but we condemn atrocities on religious grounds anywhere in the world and appeal to the union government, and the Prime Minister, to intervene,” she said.
Addressing the Bengal Assembly, Ms Banerjee said she had spoken to the chief of the ISKCON’s Kolkata unit to extend her sympathies and support, and stressed, “If Indians are attacked in Bangladesh, then we cannot tolerate it. We can bring back our people… Government of India can take this matter up with the United Nations… so a peacekeeping force can be sent.”
She also said she was not seeking to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, but pointed out that when Bangladeshi fishermen had mistakenly entered Indian waters, or when a Bangladeshi trawler had capsized, her government had “rescued them and treated them (well)”.
Mr Modi last week met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss this issue, after which the latter called on Bangladesh’s temporary government to protect religious minorities. The Indian government also expressed serious concern over a surge of extremist rhetoric and increasing incidents of violence against Hindus, as well as attacks on temples, in that country.
After his meeting with the Prime Minister Mr Jaishankar also briefed Parliament, saying the Indian government had taken a serious view of the violence against minorities in Bangladesh.
“Primary responsibility for protection of life and liberty of all citizens of Bangladesh, including minorities, rests with the Government of Bangladesh,” he said, adding the Indian High Commission in Dhaka is monitoring the situation related to minorities there “closely”.
The Yunus government has reaffirmed “in the strongest terms” that every Bangladeshi, regardless of their religious identity, has the “right to establish, maintain or perform respective religious rituals and practices or express views without hindrance.”
Two ISKCON priests were arrested by Bangladesh Saturday, according to the religious group’s Kolkata unit spokesperson Radharamn Das. This, he claimed, was in addition to the arrest of two devotees and a third, the secretary of one of the arrested priests, going missing.
The ISKCON row kicked off with the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari last week.
A former member, he was arrested from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, denied bail, and sent to jail on charges of sedition. His arrest, the interim Bangladesh government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohd. Yunus, has been “misconstrued”, Dhaka has said.
The arrest of Das and another Hindu priest, the leader of the Sammilita Sanatani Jote, triggered protests across Bangladesh, including in Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram. The protesters have been demanding stronger legal protection and a ministry dedicated to minority affairs.
Historically, Hindus made up around 22 per cent of Bangladesh’s population during the 1971 Liberation War. But there has been a significant decline in recent decades, with the Hindu community now comprising only around eight per cent of the total population.
