Published in 2012, Dr Richard L Benkin’s path-breaking book titled A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: The Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus did not create ripples. Had it been written about the plight of any other community other than Hindus, the content of the book would have sent shockwaves across the world.
Among many, some of the most critically notable observations made by the author in the book are the following: He stated, Hindus ‘Individually, have experienced murder, ritualised gang rape, child abduction, beatings, land seizures, property theft, deliberate impoverishment and forced conversions (to Islam) at the hands of their fellow citizens’. Further, he stated, ‘Every Bangladeshi Government has been complicit in this most egregious case of ethnic cleansing’.
Ethnic Cleansing
The author quotes from census figures to show how the population of Hindus in Bangladesh which was a ‘little less than a third of East Pakistan’s population’ in 1947, got reduced to ‘less than a fifth’ when East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, got further reduced to ‘less than one in ten’ 30 years later. Recent figures are much lower than that. The author refers to estimates by Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York that ‘about 49 million Hindus are missing from the Bangladeshi census’.
And finally, Dr Benkin makes a striking comment, ‘Bangladesh’s Hindu population is dying and no one is doing anything about it’. The United Nations, as per the author, ‘has no problem looking aside while Bangladeshi Hindus are eliminated’.
Victimised During Hasina’s Rule As Well
That was in 2012. In 2024, things have not improved. Even before the recent turmoil in Bangladesh started, led by the Anti-Quota Movement, Deep Halder, author of the recently published book Being Hindu in Bangladesh, has often mentioned the ‘othering’ of Hindus there. As per him, even though the Awami League regime has been known to be relatively more moderate on the face of it, the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh did not stop during its reign either. They continued unabated, often even allegedly by Awami League supporters and party members.
In fact, from the times of Vested Property Act, 1974, which gave unprecedented powers to the Bangladeshi Government to seize lands of Hindus on the ‘flimsiest of pretexts’, to the pogroms against Hindus that were evident after the exit of Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh, the whole era of independent Bangladesh is imbued with countless incidents that vindicate the precarious condition in which the Hindus of Bangladesh exist.
Acting As Saviour
It must be mentioned that it was the Narendra Modi Government that brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act to ensure that those Hindus and other minorities who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh up till 2014 were given Indian citizenship on a fast-track basis. This did give reprieve to several countless such helpless Hindus who had migrated from Bangladesh and Pakistan.
However, except this, successive Governments in India and political parties showed utter disregard and indifference to the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. A fake sense of ‘political correctness’, fear of being dubbed as ‘Islamophobic’, and thereby losing the Muslim vote bank led to the refusal to accept that a problem of ethnic cleansing of Hindus does exist in South Asia.
Deafening Silence of Celebrities
Even India’s so-called celebrities, who often raise placards for the cause of the people of Palestine or Syria, never even by mistake, wrote anything in solidarity with the hapless Hindus of Bangladesh or Pakistan, lest perhaps their ‘secularity’ slides into danger. India’s mainstream media has been equally responsible for their complicity in not reporting incidents of persecution. Even when they did report, desperate attempts were made to rationalise such attacks on Hindus as not religious attacks but because of ‘other’ disputes. Nothing can be more far from reality.
Eerie Silence of Opposition
It must also be mentioned clearly that a significant portion of the existing Hindu population of Bangladesh consists of Dalit Hindus. And yet, all the champions of the Dalit cause in India, especially from Opposition parties, maintain deafening silence at the plight of Bangladeshi Dalit Hindus. To cut the long story short, Hindus in Bangladesh remain the proverbial ‘soft target’ for radical extremist groups. And one must not be mistaken by the presumption that the extremists are small in numbers in Bangladesh. Islamisation of Bangladeshi society is a reality. The clerics spare no stone unturned to give ideological justification for the average Muslims to target their Hindu neighbours.
Pretext to Target Hindus
Among many pretexts, which have often been used for the purpose of targeting the hapless and disorganised Hindus, one that has gained considerable momentum over the years, is that ‘Hindus (of Bangladesh) have allegiance to India’. Nothing can be far from the truth. Hindus of Bangladesh are not just law-abiding and patriotic but have also contributed enormously towards their country’s art, culture, sports and economy. The likes of Chanchal Chowdhury or Brindaban Das are not just household names in Bangladesh but among Bengalis across the world for their incredible contribution to the Bengali telefilm industry of Bangladesh. There are several such examples across many spheres. Yet, Hindus are targeted. Even though there may be some semblance of safety in the major cities, the same cannot be said about far-flung villages in the countryside, where the reign of hardliners remains unchallenged.
Moderates Exist
This is not to say that no Muslim ever stood by the hapless Hindus of Bangladesh. The syncretic culture on the edifice of which the very essence of Bangladesh was conceptualised still has membranes that are trying hard to ensure that religious differences are kept aside and Hindus and Muslims remain in perpetual peace. But their numbers are either dwindling fast or are too disempowered to stand against the wave of assault or hate against Hindus that has been normalised by Islamist hardliners and their growing number of followers. With Awami League almost dissipating into thin air and amidst the severe intra-societal acrimony that exists now, there is no prize for guessing how things may shape up in coming years.
The Looming Danger
As things stand in Bangladesh today, it is highly unlikely that the future of Hindus will be better than the predicament of today or the plight of yesterday. Bangladesh itself has become deeply polarised, though it is not something that has happened suddenly. It is as old as the nation itself. Now, the polarisation on political lines, the deep disdain each block has for the other, is only going to go up, just as the trajectory of the economy heads more southward.
The economy continues to be in the doldrums primarily because of the deepening internal strife, destruction of critical economic infrastructures in arson, and a growing sense of despondency and uneasiness among various sections as a result of the anarchic situation. The sheer inexperience of the newly nominated administrators is only making things worse for Bangladesh. The growing uneasiness of people, surrounding their falling confidence in the student leaders-turned-administrators and their ability to navigate the country’s fragile economy and fissured society through this tumultuous phase, is adding to the woes. The possibility of more intense civil strife in the coming times cannot be ruled out. Thus, to expect that the focus of the country would be on the protection of Hindus is akin to having impractical expectations.
Blame Bharat for Everything
As has been the trend, and which is fast-growing traction in Bangladesh, India is blamed for anything that happens there. Several parts of India suffer from severe floods every year, and yet when rain ravages Bangladesh, India is blamed for the same, on the pretext that India has opened up floodgates of dams. What is not said is that floodgates of Bangladesh-based dams also open in such times, as there is a limit to the pressure of water that dams can withstand during phases of intense rainfall.
Likewise, even for their economic woes, caused mostly by worsening law and order situation, mismanagement of the economy, dwindling forex reserves, and reducing investors’ confidence, invariably, the vested interests are keeping no stone unturned in pinning the blame on India, rather than working on their own shortcomings.
In such a scenario, if the attacks on Hindus increase, or their systematic impoverishment continues, it would come as no surprise, given the fact that hardliners are more emboldened now. With the police force being almost dysfunctional and demoralised, who would be there to protect the Hindus in the foreseeable future?
Why CAA 2.0 is a Must
Against this backdrop, the most pertinent question is what can India do? Social media is flooded with a myriad of wild theories about what India must do through interventions. Most such propositions are practically not feasible. India has its own set of internal issues to deal with, and maintaining good relations with the Bangladeshi Government is important for strategic reasons as well.
The least, therefore, that India can do is to introduce a second instalment of the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA 2.0. This ideally should have the provision that those Hindus of Bangladesh who want to permanently come to India for security reasons would be allowed by India to cross over, initially on a long-term visa and then with provisions for granting Indian citizenship in due course of time. It is for sure that those who would try to cross over would lose all their properties and assets back home, thanks to draconian rules like the Vested Properties Act and its progenies. But when they are already victims of relentless persecution and institutionalised impoverishment, it is perhaps better for them to cross over than to remain in constant fear of losing everything. Millions in the past crossed over and slowly, over the years, rebuilt their lives here.
For the naysayers, here are the counterarguments. If, in this country, countless millions of illegal Rohingyas can stay with impunity, why should then India not officially give the persecuted Hindus of Bangladesh another chance to come to India? Who would shelter them if not India? Those who want to stay back in Bangladesh, they have every right to do so. After all, Bangladesh is their country, and Hindus of Bangladesh have always been very patriotic. Even today, those who migrated to India from East Pakistan or Bangladesh hold on to their unique ‘Bangal’ culture and yearn to visit their roots someday.
The Return of the Haunted Past
Purnima Rani Shil, the victim of brutal gangrape in Bangladesh, in the violence that started after the 2001 election victory of BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami coalition, while narrating her ordeal to author Deep Halder, stated that she was brought to Dhaka, to somehow restart her life, after the traumatic incident of gang rape, ‘Because the countryside was full of horrors, being Hindu can become a curse at the whim of a Huzoor ( a Muslim religious preacher) or the poisonous whisper of a neighbour’ (The Print). What she said about the plight of helpless, defenceless Hindus of Bangladesh, especially in the countryside, holds true to date. Or perhaps things are even worse now.
It is Now or Never
Beyond the proverbial lip service, it is for sure that no UN, EU or US would ever show even an iota of empathy for the Hindus of Bangladesh. They have no interest in it. But part of the reason for the deafening silence of Western media, on the borderline of complicity, is civil society and academia of India as well. For decades, when Hindus of Bangladesh suffered, Indians, especially the elites, pretended to be busy with other things, ranging from the World Cup Cricket frenzy to Bollywood movies to stock market gains. It is perhaps for the first time that Hindus of India raised their voice for Bangladeshi Hindus. Hopefully, it would translate into more concrete actions in terms of bringing to the table CAA 2.0
As Benkin writes in his book, ‘We can say with almost Biblical certainty that if we do not act, people will continue to be killed, raped, abducted, deprived of their rights; and that a community will be destroyed’.
