Growing antiHindu mindset in Bangladesh alarming: Taslima Nasreen

Bangladesh has been witnessing attacks on the Hindu minority community, vandalisation of temples and Durga puja marquees.
Communal tension has been brewing over an alleged incident of blasphemy at a Durga Puja venue in Comilla last week that triggered
clashes in many districts.

PTI New DelhiPublished on:October 19, 2021 Image Source : AP (FILE) Growing anti-Hindu mindset
in Bangladesh alarming: Taslima Nasreen Anguished over the antiHindu violence in Bangladesh, renowned writer
Taslima Nasreen has said the country has now become “Jihadistan” where madrasas are a breeding ground for fundamentalism and accused the Sheikh Hasina government of using religion for political gains. Hindus and Buddhists in Bangladesh have become “third
class citizens” and the growing anti-Hindu mindset is alarming, the writer said.
Bangladesh has been witnessing attacks on the Hindu minority community,
vandalisation of temples and Durga puja marquees. Communal tension has
been brewing over an alleged incident of blasphemy at a Durga Puja venue
in Comilla last week that triggered clashes in many districts.
Slamming the attacks, the writer told PTI in an interview that, “I actually
don’t like to call it Bangladesh anymore. It has become ‘jihadistan’ now. All
the subsequent governments including the present one used religion for
political motives. They made Islam the state religion so Hindus and
Buddhists have become third class citizens and subject to persecution like
this.”
Nasreen, who had to leave Bangladesh in 1994 in the wake of death threats
by fundamentalist outfits for her alleged anti-Islamic views, said the antiHindu sentiment is not new in Bangladesh and it was strange that no
protection was given to Hindus during Durga puja festival.
“Sheikh Hasina is very well aware that every year during Durga puja time,
there is a chance of’ jihadi’ attack on Hindus. So why no protection was
given to the Hindu minorities,” the ‘Lajja’ fame author said.
Fearing that many Hindus will leave the country now, she said if the
government wanted to protect them, it could have done so.
“This growing anti-Hindu mindset is very alarming. There were 30 percent
Hindus living there during the time of partition but now it is reduced to nine
percent,” said the 59-year-old Bangladeshi-Swedish writer.
The author, whose book ‘Lajja’ is banned in Bangladesh, said, “I wrote my
novel Lajja’ in 1993 in which a Hindu family is attacked by Muslim fanatics
and decides to leave the country but it is not that such incidents happened
only in 1993, it is continuously going on.”
“Hindus are tortured, persecuted and threatened by Muslims. It has been
going on for years as Muslims want Hindus to leave the country so that they
can grab their land,” the author alleged.
Lajja is considered the author’s response to anti-Hindu riots that erupted in
parts of Bangladesh soon after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India
in 1992. Known for her writings on women, human rights and secularism,
the firebrand author claimed that madrasas and mosques are being used to
brainwash the younger generation in Bangladesh which is becoming
another Afghanistan that is controlled Taliban.
“Numerous mosques and madrasas are built in Bangladesh unnecessarily
which are used to brainwash the younger generation. In remote villages,
preachers speak whatever they want to in the name of Islam. They are
misleading young people who are illiterate and do not understand Arabic.
So whenever any rumour is spread these kinds of violent incidents happen,”
she said
“What do you want to make your country with this extremism? Another
Afghanistan where Taliban is in control?” she asked.

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Nasreen said she has been a victim of this extremism throughout her life as her writing are related to women and humanitarian issues.
“It has been 28 years since I was thrown out of the country and still no government has
allowed me to enter the  country. I defended the minority community in ‘Lajja’28 years ago and still write whenever this kind of issue
arises whether it in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afganistan, Syria or anywhere in the world,” she said.
Nasreen feels that economic growth is meaningless if religious tolerance is not there. Madrasas, she said, should be controlled by the government and there should be a strict vigil on what they are teaching. Children should be encouraged to go to a “secular
school and they must have a scientific temper,” she said. “Secularism should be promoted and there should be a strict separation between state and religion. You cannot just blame the people who have destroyed Hindu shops, houses or temples. Governments have created all the reasons for them to do this over the years for their vote bank politics which should be stopped,” said the writer.
Taking note of a protest rally against the attack on Hindus in Bangladesh, she said, “I am very glad that hundreds of
people have participated in a protest rally in Chattogram against these incidents in which progressive Muslims also took part”. Social media has played a major part in this as there is a media blackout in Bangladesh, she added.