Bangladesh communal tensions grow amid Hindu protests

Religious tensions are high in Bangladesh following violence over the arrest of a Hindu religious leader in the southern city of Chittagong.

After Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das was denied bail on charges of sedition on Tuesday for allegedly insulting Bangladesh's flag during a rally in October, police said hundreds of his supporters clashed with security forces as a van took Das back to jail. A Muslim lawyer, Saiful Islam Alif, was killed during the clash, officials said.

After the incident, some Muslim groups have suggested cracking down on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), an international Hindu organization.

Although Bangladesh ISKCON said on November 28 that religious leader Das was expelled from the organization in July for disciplinary issues, ICKSON's Bangladesh president, Satya Ranjan Barai, told the AFP news agency on Friday that Das "defied the order and continued his activities."

Nevertheless, both Bangladesh ISKCON and Global ISKCON also issued statements condemning the arrest. 

Chinmoy Krishna Das escorted by police in ChattogramImage: Stringer/ REUTERS

Calls to ban Hindu group

Religious relations have been turbulent in Muslim-majority Bangladesh since the government of Sheikh Hasina was toppled after student-led protests in August. She fled to India after the protests.

An interim government has taken over and is in charge of setting up policies to be eventually adopted by a new government.

Various Islamist political parties, including the far-right Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, called for a ban on ISKCON in Bangladesh. 

On November 26, Hasnat Abdullah, an organizer of the student-led uprising that toppled Hasina, posted on social media calling ISKCON an "extremist" group "trying to implement various treasonous plots to destabilize" Bangladesh.

The group responded in a post on X: "It is outrageous to make baseless allegations that ISKCON has anything to do with terrorism anywhere in the world." 

A lawyer brought the issue of banning ISKCON as a militant organization to the Supreme Court on November 27. A day later, the top court dismissed the petition calling for a ban.

"Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians... believe in coexistence, and this harmony will not be broken," the court ruled.

Shafiqul Alam, press secretary of Bangladesh's chief adviser, told DW that the interim government "believes in freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of assembly for every religious institution. We also believe in ensuring all rights."

He acknowledged that some incidents of attacks on religious minorities might have occurred immediately after Hasina was ousted but added that most of the events described in the Indian media have been exaggerated. 

Bangladesh's minority rights movement

Since the interim government took over, the Indian government has consistently raised concerns about the security of Hindus in Bangladesh.

India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement expressing concern even after the arrest of Hindu leader Das. 

This has led to speculation in Bangladesh over whether India's Hindu nationalist government is using the minority issue to pressure Bangladesh's interim government. 

Manindra Kumar Nath, president of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a non-profit advocating for religious minorities, said that the minority movement in Bangladesh is independent of India and Hasina's Awami League. 

"The demand for a minority protection act and a minority commission, etc. has existed for a long time," he told DW.

Nath added that Hindu students were among those who participated in the protest movement to remove Hasina's government.

"They came together to protest against the non-fulfilment of long-standing demands of the minorities," he said.

Is secularism in Bangladesh under threat? 

The current constitution of Bangladesh designates Islam as the state religion while also upholding secularism as a state principle.

However, Bangladesh's attorney general, Md Asaduzzaman, said during a high court hearing in October that he would support excluding secularism from the constitution.

Nath said removing secularism from the constitution would further restrict the rights of minorities.

"In the past, various governments have made promises to us [religious minorities] in their election manifestos. However, after winning the elections, they failed to implement these promises." 

The interim government has said that the election date will be announced after a process of policy reform is completed. One of the reform commissions is tasked with working on whether to rewrite or merely amend the constitution of Bangladesh. 

Spokesman Alam said that the commission will submit its report by December 31, and the government is giving it top priority.

"Based on this report, there will be an understanding with the political parties, consultation with them, and then a consensus," he said.

"If the Hindu minority has any concerns about the constitution, they will express them," he said. "If the people in the (Chittagong) Hill Tracts feel their rights are being violated, they can voice their concerns. This is how we want to go forward," he added.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn