India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma.
Efforts are on to form an interim government in Bangladesh. Chief advisor economist Mohammad Yunus is to reach Dhaka on Thursday. The President has dissolved the Parliament. Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia and 254 leaders of her party have been released from jail, but there is still an atmosphere of anarchy in the entire country. Policemen are missing from the streets and police stations. On Tuesday night, rioters looted and committed arson in many areas of Dhaka. A Major General of the Army has been dismissed. The big thing is that the President of Bangladesh has also given orders to release the rioters arrested on charges of violent demonstrations. This was a big demand of the protesters which the President accepted on the advice of the Bangladesh Army, but even after this the situation is worsening.
Now Sheikh Hasina’s supporters, her party leaders and Hindus are being selectively targeted. The five-star hotel of the district president of Sheikh Hasina’s party was burnt down in which 24 people were burnt alive. The house of former Bangladesh cricket team captain Mashrafe Mortaza was set on fire. At least 34 temples were attacked, 4 temples were burnt down, Hindu houses were looted in 39 districts. Many houses were set on fire. Two Hindu counselors were murdered. The Indian government has expressed the greatest concern over this.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the Indian government is in touch with the Bangladesh Army through diplomatic channels, the army has been asked to control the situation quickly and ensure the safety of Indian citizens and Bangladeshi Hindus present in Bangladesh. Currently, about 19 thousand Indian citizens are living in Bangladesh, out of which 9 thousand are students. Most of the Indian students living in Bangladesh had returned to their country in the month of July itself on the advice of the Indian High Commission.
It is true that India has two concerns at this time. First is to ensure the safety of Indians and Hindus living in Bangladesh and secondly, to try to stop people coming to India from Bangladesh, to strengthen the security of our borders. The government’s focus right now is not on who is behind what happened in Bangladesh. The government is concerned about the safety of Hindus living in Bangladesh because attacks on Hindus have started there. In the last 24 hours, there have been reports of attacks on Hindu houses, shops, temples, vandalism, looting and arson from 39 districts of Bangladesh.
Apart from Dhaka and the other big city Chattogram, Hindus were attacked in Narsinghpur, Meherpur, Narsingdi, Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet. The mob of rioters is selectively targeting Hindus, they are being beaten, they are being killed, Hindu temples have been attacked, there are reports of temples being set on fire from many places. Actually, most of the Hindus of Bangladesh have been supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, so the workers of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and its student camp are targeting Hindus. The police have failed to stop those attacking Hindus. In Meherpur town of Khulna division, the rioters targeted the ISKCON temple. They broke the idols and then set the temple on fire.
Sumohan Das, director of ISKCON Temple in Dhaka, said that he has received reports of attacks on temples from many districts, Hindu women are being targeted. Sumohan Das said that although Hindus have never been safe in Bangladesh since 1971, but this time as soon as Sheikh Hasina left power, it seems as if doom has fallen on Hindus. Miscreants attacked a Kali temple in Narsingdi district of Bangladesh and vandalized the temple. Police was present on the spot but the police did nothing. A mob of rioters entered the Hindu-dominated Hazari Gali locality of Bangladesh’s second largest city Chattogram, many temples were pelted with stones, after which fire was set outside a temple. The rioters looted most of the shops in Hazari Gali locality of Chattogram. The population of Hindus in Bangladesh is approximately 1 crore 30 lakh, which is about 8 percent of the total population. After the partition of India, the population of Hindus in Bangladesh in 1951 was 22 percent.
But, due to attacks by fundamentalists, more than one crore Hindus fled from Bangladesh to India. Now once again a similar danger is looming. In Bangladesh, in the Ferozepur district of Barishal Division, rioters attacked a Hindu settlement, stones were pelted on Hindu houses, looting took place and then many houses were set on fire. People fled from their homes to save their lives. Many similar videos are coming from Bangladesh. That is why concerns are being raised about the safety of Hindus. Yoga guru Swami Ramdev said that the way Hindu temples and houses are being targeted in Bangladesh, the international community should take it seriously. Swami Ramdev said that India should oppose the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh with full force, necessary steps should be taken for their protection.
RSS’s All India Executive Member Bhaiyaji Joshi has also appealed to the government to take necessary steps to protect Hindus in Bangladesh. Bhaiyaji Joshi said that the news of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh is worrying. He hopes that the government will definitely take steps to protect Hindus. The Sangh’s concern is justified. Swami Ramdev is right that there is a need to be cautious about the situation in Bangladesh. Everyone needs to stand together for the Hindus of Bangladesh because at this time law and order has completely collapsed in Bangladesh.
Alok Kumar, the working president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said that the way Hindus are being targeted in Bangladesh, it seems that Pakistan’s ISI may be behind this. Alok Kumar said that the Indian government should take every possible step to protect Hindus in Bangladesh. Dhirendra Shastri, the head of Bageshwar Dham, has also appealed to the Indian government to take necessary steps to protect the tortured Hindus of Bangladesh and our government should open the doors for those Hindus who want to come to India from Bangladesh. Hindus are living in the shadow of fear in Bangladesh at this time. Fundamentalists and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami are attacking Hindus, looting their properties, setting temples on fire, killing Hindus. The pictures coming from there are really disturbing.
The problem is that Hindus cannot flee from Bangladesh to India at this time because bloodthirsty rioters are roaming the streets everywhere. Now those people who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for the last one year are silent. Although the government has contacted the army officers of Bangladesh, it is trying to ensure the safety of Hindus through diplomatic channels, but the problem is that at present there is neither a government nor a thing called police in Bangladesh. Because the rioters have burnt down all the police stations. The policemen are either running away to save their lives or have joined the mob of rioters. The army officers are not able to understand what they should do because on one hand they have to find a way to form an interim government, on the other hand they also have to listen to the demands of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which is demanding the removal of those officers who are considered close to Sheikh Hasina. However, in our country, the people and the government have only one priority, how to save the lives of the Hindu brothers and sisters living there. (Rajat Sharma)
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