Sunday | 6 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Sunday | 6 October 2024 | Epaper

BEING HINDU IN BANGLADESH

Reviewed by Uday Hasar

Published : Saturday, 23 December, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 2150
Deep Halder & Avishek Biswas
Is Hasina the only hope for Bangladeshs Hindus…? Being Hindu in Bangladesh by Indian writers Deep Halder and Avishek Biswas explores the plight of minority Hindus in the country. As the title suggests, the book draws focus towards the untold story of Hindus in Bangladesh from the time of partition of India in 1947 to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas re-election bid in January 2024.

 With the upcoming elections, Bangladesh is currently going through political turmoil with incidents of violence being reported frequently. Bangladesh Nationalist Partys decision to abstain from the upcoming election and the countrys Supreme Court barring Jamaat-e-Islami from participating in the 2024 election makes the situation even more complex. Writer Deep Halder and Avishek Biswass book at a time like this puts a spotlight on one of the most important ongoing issues in Bangladesh.

The book interestingly blends the Bangladesh that was and the Bangladesh that is. The writers begin with the Noakhali riots of 1946. However, it ends with the hope and responsibility to sustain the dream that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his compatriots believed in---the dream of a secular Bangladesh.

The book goes back and forth from Noakhali of 1946 to the unfortunate incidents during Durga Puja 2021 in several parts of Bangladesh. It also touches on the intermittent, yet somewhat constant victimization of the Hindus in the country. Of all these years, 2001 violence on the minority Hindus, allegedly by the BNP- Jamaat nexus, forms a significant part of the book.
The writers ask Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan as to what prompts such minority repression and he puts the blame on the Jamaat camp saying, "They targeted and killed the intellectuals of Bangladesh. At present, they are banned from participating in the politics of Bangladesh, and trust me their number is getting smaller by the day."

The book looks at the DNA of Hate and digs deeper to find out what went wrong with a country that was at the helm of the culmination of a language movement regardless of ones religion. Despite the Bangladesh Home Ministers claim, the writers have also come up with their research, with reference to Dr. Abul Barkats work. It suggests that on average, as of 2016, 632 people from the minority community leave the country each day. Is it largely caused by anti-Hindu violence?

When the writers met the President of Bangladesh Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, who led a three-member judicial commission to look into the 2001 anti-Hindu violence led by the BNP and Jamaat, he said "I met Hindu women who were raped multiple times during that wave of anti-Hindu violence that they lost their minds. I feel what happened in 2001 was even worse than what happened in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War."

This book is an objective rendering of the Bangladesh of the past and where it stands today. Why would Bangladeshs Hindu population go down from 13.5 percent in 1974 to 8.5 percent in 2022? The writers have tried to find an answer. One needs to find the answer because Bangladesh is Mujibs brainchild and he believed, "This country does not belong to Hindus. This country does not belong to Muslims. Whoever thinks this country is theirs, this country will be theirs. Whoever will feel happiness seeing this country prosper, this country will be theirs." Is Hasina the only hope to sustain Mujibur Rahmans belief?

This book is an answer to that question.


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