Attempt to polarize India in the name of Bangladeshi Hindus
My assessment under the present situation is that whenever and wherever elections will be announced in India in the coming days, there will be election campaigns based on religious and communal polarization in the name of the Hindus of Bangladesh.
The sequence of events that have been happening in our neighbouring country Bangladesh for the last two weeks has made the Hindutva organisations of India very happy. And they are using the incidents in Bangladesh as a cover to polarise India on the basis of religious polarisation. This is against the Constitution of India and is also against the traditions of our country. If, by such an act, India is dragged on the path of Bangladesh, knowingly or unknowingly, then the situation of 78 years ago can again become the same in the entire Indian subcontinent.
At this time, a bandh was declared in Nashik under the banner of ‘Sakal Hindu Samaj’ in Maharashtra! And now in Malegaon. The sole purpose of the bandh and the shutdown calls is nothing but religious polarization!
In the same sequence, in a place called Sarala in Shrirampur Tehsil of Ahmednagar district, in the Nath Sect Monastery, a Maharaj named Ramgiri has given a very irresponsible and derogatory statement about Muhammad Saheb!
Friends, being a soldier of Rashtra Seva Dal, I am as concerned about Bangladesh as much as the people of ‘Sakal Hindu’ organization! But the fundamental difference in the concern of both is that even today my concern is about the safety of life and property of 1,31,44,240 - one crore thirty one lakh forty four thousand two hundred four Hindus living in Bangladesh!
On the contrary, the Sakal Hindu Sangathan is purely a political maneuver to polarize Hindu-Muslim religious sentiments in Maharashtra for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Because the current Maharashtra government does not have any credit or positive work to its account, with which it can go to the public to ask for votes. This is why instead of taking action on Ramgiri Maharaj’s controversial statement, the Chief Minister himself went to meet him at his monastery, and in a statement said:
“Maharashtra is the land of saints, and we will not take any action against them. And if anyone even touches a hair of theirs, we will deal with him with force.”
Even with regard to the Bhima-Koregaon incident that took place six years ago, except for the real culprits of that incident no one even heard the name Bhima Koregaon in their lives!
There is no other hope from the government that arrests such people! Because I myself have investigated the Bhima Koregaon incident on behalf of Rashtra Seva Dal! And that report was started by the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian journalists, Nikhil Chakraborty, the mainstream itself has published our report! And when the current Chief Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud was a judge in the bench formed by the Supreme Court for the Bhima-Koregaon case! Then he has quoted our report verbatim in his dissent judgment!
And even now, long before the latest protests over the 1971 law giving reservation to the family members of freedom fighters in Bangladesh, I have been very carefully following all the developments in Bangladesh. I have a close eye on them. And so far I have written three articles on this subject. And today again for the fourth time, I am worried about the activities being carried out in Maharashtra under the banner of ‘Sakala Hindu’. I am trying to write this post because whatever reaction will be expressed in India regarding the Hindus of Bangladesh, the Hindus living in Bangladesh may have to bear the brunt of it. Even if the current ruling party wins the elections in the upcoming assembly elections of Maharashtra by spreading true or false information about the Hindus of Bangladesh and comes back to power.
I had got an opportunity to visit Bangladesh for a week from 17th November to 24th November in November 2011 to participate in the conference of Asian Social Forum. At that time, after the conference of Asian Social Forum was over, I deliberately stayed in Bangladesh for two more days. One day of that was spent with the Bihari Muslims stuck in Bangladesh (1971) and the people of Hindu religion living in Bangladesh even after the partition (1946-47) and the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, which is still 1,31,44,204! Which is 7.96% of the total population of Bangladesh! (Source: Bangla Desh Population and Housing Census 2022) Out of which Dhaka city alone has 27.68 lakhs, Rangpur is at second place with 22.90 lakhs, Chittagong is at third place with 21.96 lakhs, Khulna is at fourth place with 20.07 lakhs, Sylhet is at fifth place with 14.91 lakhs, Rajshahi is at sixth place with 11.59 lakhs, Barishal is at seventh place with 7.50 lakhs, Mymensingh is at eighth place with 4.81 lakhs. In this way, despite some Hindus coming to India in the incidents of 1947 and 1971, even today 1,31,44,204 i.e. 8% Hindus are still living in Bangladesh! And I am always worried about what will be happening to the Hindus of Bangladesh now?
What I tried to tell the Hindutva activists of Bhagalpur, during the peace and harmony work in Bhagalpur after the Bhagalpur riots (1989), is that “You are the majority population in Bhagalpur, Patna or almost the entire Bihar! But even today a large number of Hindus are living in the neighboring country Bangladesh! And if you really care about Hindus, then care about the minority Hindus living anywhere in the world! And what was the reaction in Bangladesh and Pakistan after 6 December 1992? What Tasleema Nasreen has written in her book titled ‘Lajja’! So how long will this chain reaction continue?"
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During my visit to Dhaka in November 2011, I went to the office of the organization of Hindus of Bangladesh which is in the temple of Dhakeshwari in the area named Dhanmondi. There was two hours for the office to open. So the priest of the temple, Chattopadhyay told me:
“You can visit the temple till then, and later come to my residence and sit till the office opens.”
So first of all he took me to the temple of Dhakeshwari. I was standing and looking at the idol. Then the priest said in Bangla:
“Apni ki Maonke Pranam Korben Na?” ( “Will you not bow down to the mother?” )
Today, I am saying in writing for the first time, that I immediately prostrated myself, bowing my head on the floor of the Dhakeshwari temple. I said in my mind that “O Mother, please protect all kinds of living beings in the whole world, this is my only prayer!”
And this action was done so smoothly that even today I am amazed remembering it!
After that Pujari ji took me to his residence and told me about his history of being the priest of this temple for four hundred years. When I asked him:
“How do you feel living here?”
He replied:
"We are fine. But whenever any special incident happens in India! Like after the demolition of Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992, there was a strong reaction in Bangladesh! Therefore, my humble request to you is that if you ever get a chance, then tell the people of Hindutva organizations of India that whenever you people harass Muslims in India, then we have to pay the price for it!"
The RSS in Nagpur used to organize a speech program every Saturday under the banner of Hedgewar Vichar Manch! One of the members of the organizing committee asked:
"Since you have just returned from your trip to Bangladesh, so will you come to our stage and tell us about your experience?"
The invitation reminded me the reqeust the priest of Dhaka’s Dhakeshwari temple, Moshai, who had a resemblance to Ramakrishna Paramhansa, had made to me:
“If ever you get a chance to speak to the Hindutva organizations in India, you should try to tell them our point of view!”
So, respecting the request of the priest of Dhakeshwari temple, I accepted the invitation to go to the Hedgewar stage. I shared with the audience how many Hindus are still living in Bangladesh. And about their condition, what the priest of Dhakeshwari temple had told me. My entire speech revolved around that. There was complete silence in the entire hall. There was no question-answer, and no comment from anyone.
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Whatever events are happening in Bangladesh since the last two weeks, instead of worrying about the lives and property of those Hindus in India, the Hindutva organisations in India are presenting the events in a distorted manner on social media,
A bandh was announced in Nashik day before yesterday. In continuation of the irresponsible act being done by the supporters of the current ruling party in the name of Bangladesh, shutdown calls were also given in the neighbouring districts of Vaijapur, Yeola, Shrirampur, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalgaon and Malegaon. Worst, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra himself added fuel to the fire by visiting some of these districts and making inflamatory statements.
My assessment under the present situation is that whenever and wherever elections will be announced in India in the coming days, there will be election campaigns based on religious and communal polarization in the name of the Hindus of Bangladesh.
This is so because the BJP governments in the Centre and various states in their ten years of rule have failed to address the issues concerning the daily life of the people. Like the Prime Minister himself who built his entire election campaign in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by doing only religious polarization.
The Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers are trying to sail through the elections by adopting the communal and polarization tactics, even after taking oath on our Constitution. And it has already started in Maharashtra! The BJP however must remember that even if it wins in Maharashtra and the other states, it will be at the cost of India’s unity and integrity?
[The writer, Dr Suresh Khairnar, is former president of Rashtra Sewa Dal (RSD).]
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