Staff Reporter:
Hindus would hold a long march to the capital after holding rallies at the upazila, district and divisional levels to press home their eight-point demand, the Bangladesh Sanatan Jagaran Manch announced from a huge rally held in the Chattogram city on Friday.
The demands include holding trials for attacks on minorities by forming a tribunal, approving the act on Minority Protection Commission, forming a separate minority ministry, and extending the Durga Puja holiday to five days, among others.
The organisation’s spokesperson Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari said attempts to evict Hindus from the country would bring about deadly ramifications. The more Hindus would be oppressed, the more united they would become, he said at the port city’s Laldighi Maidan.
Chinmoy Krishna Das alleged that 93 police personnel have been sacked simply for being Hindus, Hindus are being intentionally implicated in lawsuits, talks on the separate existence of Hindu community are being prevented and Hindus are being tied to a specific political party, among other offences.
Furthermore, culprits in Hindu blasphemy cases are being granted bails, while Hindus are being implicated in cases of insulting other religions and sent to jail, the minority leader alleged. These anti-Hindu acts subsided for sometime during August-October, but are resurfacing, Chinmoy Krishna Das alleged.
Another speaker Gopinath Das Brahmachari said a new Bangladesh has been created, and yet despite police protection idols were vandalised on a day during the Durga Puja festival, while stones were pelted during idol immersion rites.
Thousands of Hindus joined the rally and on their way chanted that they would not leave Bangladesh, their motherland.
Chinmoy Krishna Das clarified that the Hindu rights protection movement has been spontaneously organised, and not politically motivated, despite numerous attempts to frame it as such.
If any Hindu is truly involved in political malpractice, he/she must be accused in lawsuits, but at present, Hindus are being cherry-picked for inclusion into the list of accused in lawsuits, Chinmoy Krishna Das added.
There are still 13% Hindus in the country, and they would guard their religious sites themselves, he claimed apparently denying the assistance from Islamic school students, who have repeatedly stood guard against minority attacks since 5 August.
The movement is for ensuring the very existence of Hindus in Bangladesh, Chinmoy Krishna Das further clarified.
Hindus will allow amendments to the constitution but won’t tolerate if they are made second or third class citizens in the new charter, he said demanding proportionate representation for his religious group in the parliament.
This country is also for Hindus, who sacrificed their lives in the past for its sake. Hindus will remain on the streets until their demands are met, Chinmoy Krishna Das declared.
