Anti-Hindu Violence in Bangladesh: RSS has been raising the issue for more than four decades

The violence in Bangladesh continues unabated, with multiple attacks on Hindus and their religious places recently reported from Chittagong.

(RSSFACTS is a column that demystifies the functioning, organisational structure and ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.)

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) continues to be deeply concerned about the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. Since Sheikh Hasina’s exit, more than 2,000 attacks on Hindus have been reported across the country between August 4-20 this year. The violence continues unabated, with multiple attacks on Hindus and their religious places recently reported from Chittagong.

The communal attacks on Hindus have been portrayed in Bangladesh as ‘politically motivated’ rather than communal. This narrative was reiterated by the interim government every time the recent attacks on Hindus were questioned. Muhammad Yunus, the chief of the interim government, even went so far as to call the rate of communal attacks ‘exaggerated.’

Although the Indian government has urged the Bangladeshi government to take strong measures to protect Hindus, the anti-Hindu violence is so deeply entrenched in Bangladesh’s socio-political structure that Hindus remain unsafe.

RSS Raises Concern

The RSS has consistently raised concerns over the persecution of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh for decades. In 1978, the RSS passed its first resolution, highlighting the stripping of ancestral property from Hindus and the coercion to convert to Islam under local laws. In 1989, the RSS passed another resolution expressing grave concern over the large-scale uprooting of Hindus and other religious minorities, leading to an influx of refugees into India. This influx mainly affected West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya.

The 1989 resolution condemned the violence that followed the declaration of Bangladesh as an Islamic state in 1988. It condemned the arrest, molestation of Hindu women, desecration of Hindu temples, and the forcible conversion of Hindus. The RSS continued to raise these issues in resolutions passed in 1993, 1994, and 2002.

In 2013, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the RSS’s highest decision-making body, passed a resolution on the ongoing persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It condemned attacks on Hindus, including Buddhists, and their places of worship, specifically pointing to groups like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, known for its anti-Hindu and anti-India stance. The resolution stated that for decades, Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh had been subjected to systemic violence and that they were facing the brunt of Islamic extremism.

The RSS resolution had condemned ‘the attacks on Hindus including Buddhists in Bangladesh and their places of worship by the fundamentalist groups like the notoriously anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh etc.’

The resolution categorically said, “This has become a phenomenon in Bangladesh for the last several decades. The Hindus and other minorities have been facing the brunt of Islamic fury for no fault of their own time and again.

Decline of Hindu Population

The RSS sees the roots of anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh as a consequence of the Partition of India in 1947, which it describes as a “tragic and irrational” division. According to the RSS, the Partition left Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh vulnerable, and they became strangers in their own land. The RSS resolution of 2013 noted the travesty of Hindus suffering for the failures of past political leadership, calling for the Indian government to revisit the issue of Hindu refugees from these countries.

It is a travesty that these unfortunate Hindus are paying the price of their lives for the omissions and commissions of their past political masters, said the 2013 resolution of the RSS. It also called upon ‘the Government of Bharat to revisit the entire issue of Hindu refugees and Hindu citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh.’

It invoked the Nehru-Liaqat pact of 1950 that had expressly stated that the minorities on both sides would be accorded full protection and citizenship rights. The RSS resolution said, “In Bharat every Constitutional measure was invoked to accord not only protection and security but also many special provisions amounting to appeasement in favour of the so-called minorities. They are well-placed in our country today in terms of their demographic, economic, educational and social status.

On the contrary the Hindus of Bangladesh and Pakistan have been subjected to continuous persecution resulting in severe depletion of numbers, absolute poverty, human rights abuse and migration. The ABPS insists that it is the responsibility of the Government of Bharat to challenge Pakistan and Bangladesh on the issue of violation of Nehru-Liaqat Pact conditions. Disappearance of millions of Hindus can’t simply be brushed aside by invoking the sovereignty principle. These two countries need to be questioned on the continuous influx of Hindu refugees into Bharat. While not a single member of the so-called minority community has even gone over to these countries from Bharat as a refugee millions have crossed over to this side and are continuing to do so.”

The resolution also highlighted the fact that the Hindu population of East and West Pakistan at the time of the Partition was 28% and 11% respectively whereas the Muslim population of what became truncated Bharat was 8%.

“Today while the Muslim population in Bharat has risen to 14% the Hindu population in Bangladesh has come down to less than 10% and in Pakistan to less than 2%,” said the ABPS resolution.

Jihadi Groups Gather Momentum

In 2021, another top decision making body of the RSS, Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (ABKM) passed a resolution expressing its deep anguish over the  violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. The RSS also strongly condemned the continuing brutality on the Hindu minority there and termed it as a part of larger conspiracy by Jihadi groups to further Islamisation of Bangladesh.

Three-years after this resolution, the concern expressed by the RSS regarding ‘Islamisation of Bangladesh by Jihadi group’ is getting reflected on the ground. Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh is leading from the front in anti-Hindu violence. It also played a major role in the forced ouster of a democratically elected Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

During the last four months, senior functionaries of the RSS including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale have repeatedly voiced their concern about anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh. In the annual Vijaydashami speech at Nagpur, Bhagwat specifically mentioned that Hindus need to learn lessons from the way Hindus have been targeted in Bangladesh.

On October 26, Hosabale said after the ABKM’s annual meeting in Mathura that Hindus in Bangladesh should not migrate. He urged them to stay in their homeland, emphasizing that it is their land and that sacred places like Shaktipeeths are located there. He pointed out that Hindus worldwide have historically looked to India in times of crisis, but it is equally important for Hindus in Bangladesh to remain rooted in their own land.

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.