After ex-PM Sheikh Hasina fled from Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, there have been specific targeting of Hindus in Bangladesh, which includes widespread lootings of Hindu houses and shops, vandalism of Hindu temples, lynching and killings of Hindu men, and abductions and rapes of Hindu women. X is replete with videos that show Hindu houses in villages have been burned down, and their livestock killed; while there have also been complaints of hospitals, including government hospitals, refusing treatment of Hindu patients.  These incidents of Islamic atrocities against the Bangladeshi Hindus and other minorities have brought international condemnations, asking for the attacks to stop.  While the global community is expressing shock at the recent incidents in Bangladesh, such incidents of barbarism is not new in the country.

Recently the Bangladesh army and police were seen conducting joint raids on the Hindus in Hazari Lane, Chittagong. Just prior to that a Muallim man named Osman Mollah had written a post on Facebook against ISKCON, and in retaliation some Hindus protested in front of Osman Mollah’s shop.

Additionally, thousands of Hindus took to the streets demanding security for Hindus. Seeing the large Hindu gatherings and the global spread of the news of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh via X, the government of the Jamaat-Shibir-Hizb ut Tahrir alliance government under Mohammed Yunus became nervous, and decided to raid the Hazari Lane in the darkness of night to scare the Hindus into silence.

The ‘Joint Task Force’ of the Bangladesh Army and BGB soldiers carrying deadly arms, along with Police in full riot gear and carrying rifles swarmed Hazari Gali and other Hindu majority areas of Chittagong on November 5, 2024 and conducted an indiscriminate crackdown on the Hindus. They were seen breaking CCTV cameras, beating up any Hindu that came in their way, and arrested many Hindus.

It is also believed by many that the ‘interim government’ in Bangladesh, which has been consistently denying all reports of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh, was not happy with the show of strength of the Hindus in a rally at Chittagong last month demanding justice and rights, as it had greatly dented the image of Mohammad Yunus. The November 5, 2024 attack on Hindus at Chittagong was thus carried as a retributive move by administration to teach the Hindus a lesson.

The Joint Task Force not only broke CCTV cameras to prevent any kind of evidences being recorded, after which it is said that they looted gold jewellery and other valuables from Hindu-owned shops and homes, while also vandalizing Hindu properties. More than 200 Hindu men were arrested and there are also apprehensions that some of them may have been shot dead.

Hindus persecution in Bangladesh is not a new phenomenon, and as I have mentioned in many of my columns, it has been an ongoing process from 1946 (and even earlier). This persecution of Hindus (kafirs) is a part of Islamic theology, hence realistically cannot be stopped without removing Islam as the dominant religion of Bangladesh.

A look back at the past

The 1947 Partition time communal riots, and the 1971 Pakistan army and Razakar-Ansar Bahini war atrocities against the Hindus are something that should have been documented in world history under a chapter: Hindu genocide. Unfortunately, discussions on the atrocities against Hindus, and the ongoing Hindu genocide in Pakistan and Bangladesh, still remain a taboo subject among western academicians. However, it is heartening to see many Hindus are now waking up from their deep slumber and demanding a day to be named as the Hindu Genocide Day, on similar lines to the Holocaust Day for the Jews.

I have shared three incidents /memories from the Noakhali riots of 1946, which present the horrific condition of Hindus in Bangladesh and the persecution they have faced at the hands of Muslims.

Recollections of a Noakhali Riot Survivor –

A Hindu Bengali running away from Muslims in Bangladesh, 1946 –

‘It was the night of Kojagori Purnima. From that night I have been constantly running. That night from everywhere there were voices crying run, run, run….

I ran away, even though till today I haven’t fully understood why I ran away. The running, which started at 6 years of age, took me through Hobiganj, NoakhALi, Chattogram… and is still continuing.

The screams of my elder sister made me turn around once as I was running away. I saw them dragging her away, into the depths of the forests near the Bosepukur area. In her right hand my elder sister was still holding onto the puja sankha, with which she was trying to hit back at her violators. My sister had just joined college.

After that many years have passed, though my running never really stopped. After running through Marichjhanpi, Dandakaranya, and Andaman, I finally reached Kolkata. I never again saw my elder sister or my mother. My father’s right arm was rendered useless in the Morichjhapi ri0ts; however, my sister and I remained unharmed.

After reaching Kolkata I had thought my running would finally end. But here to my shock I found that the very people who had made us run from start are present here, and are now carrying the sickle, hammer, and star flag. When finally, the sickle was made blunt, I watched in dismay at how the term ‘Mamta’ meaning motherly love, lose its meaning, and turn heartless and cruel.’

[written by Bajra Ghosh]

Story of immense bravery and Hindu resistance during the N0akhal! Ri0ts – Rajendra Lal RoyChowdhury.

“The severed head of Rajendra Lal RoyChowdhury was gifted to Gulam Sarowar on a plate. At Gulam’s order his two trusted lieutenants took the two beautiful daughters of Mr. RoyChowdhury as the booty”.

(Binoy Bhusan Ghosh, in his book “দ্বিজাতিতত্ত্ব ওবাঙালী” / Two Nation Theory and Bengalis).

On October 11, 1946, the private army of Gholam Sarwar, known as the Miyar Fauj, attacked the residence of Rajendralal Roychowdhury. At that time Swami Tryambakananda of Bharat Sevashram Sangha was in the house as a guest. While Roychowdhury fought the Muslim mob from his terrace with his rifle, Swami Ji stood at the main door with a sword and fended off the Muslims. At night when the mob went back, Roychowdhury sent Swamiji and his family members to safety.

However, Roychowdhury remained behind, as he as a leader of the local Hindus and didn’t want to leave them behind stranded alone. So he stayed back to fight. The next day Gholam Sarwar sent a larger mob. Rajendralal Roychowdhury fought bravely until his ammunitions ended, after which he was k!ll€d, and his s€vered head was presented to Golam Sarwar on a platter.

Roychowdhury’s two unmarried daughters, Basanti and Reba, were taken away and given to two of Sarwar’s trusted generals to be raped and kept as sex slaves. The house was set on fire, and the b0dies of the Roychowdhury family members were thrown into a swamp to rot and be eaten by animals.

On 11th January 1947, the remains of the Roychowdhurys were taken out from the swamp, and cremated as per Hindu rites.

Later Hindus built a hospital in N0akhal! district in memory of Roy Chowdhary.  According to Sucheta Kriplani, Rajendralal Roychowdhury had pledged to follow the footsteps of Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji to defend Hinduism and family honour with his last breath.

Snippets from Hindu g€n0cide- As narrated by a N0akhal! ri0t survivor:

“I was born in 1941, and in 1946 a communal riot broke out in Noakhali. Our house was ransacked, family idols were desecrated and the straw-built cottages were set on fire and huge almirahs of books were thrown into the flames.

Much later in life I learnt that the riot had been worked up by an outsider, Gholam Sarwar. But the mob comprised local Muslims, many of whom were our subjects.

They demanded our conversions to Islam by reciting the ‘Kalma’. Ours was a very big family most of whom agreed to convert as that was the only way to save life.

And then, a boy of only five saw the bravest of man of the time and of the country.

My father refused to be converted to a Muslim. He actually removed the cloth (uttariya) from his shoulder and offered his head instead. He was holding me in his hand. He asked them to kill me then and there -he would not be converted-at any cost.

As many in the mob knew my father and our family, they hesitated. They warned my father that they would return after three days, have the whole family converted and fed on beef. If my father stuck to his ego, he would be killed and his entire family would be exterminated.

The news somehow reached my cousin, a railway officer, posted at Badarpur. He ran to the district town, met the police chief, a Muslim gentleman of Noakhali.

Police intervention was ruled out. He approached the Military, the English commander pleaded helplessness. By the time the news of my father’s courage reached the ears of the so-called communal leader of Bengal, Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee. He rushed to East Bengal and sent his volunteers to rescue us.

On the fateful day the said volunteers penetrated into the riot-ridden area and asked my father to get ready and leave the place then and there. So, we left, with only our Join clothes on, my parents, brothers and sisters, five of us were escorted on to our family boat to reach the Choumuhani Railway Station, some ten miles away…”

[As shared by Shubhankar Chakraborty- the memories of his uncle]

An Ending note:

Recently the American Prescient-Elect, Mr. Donald Trump, in a Diwali message on 31^st October 2024, had condemned the atrocities faced by Hindus in Bangladesh, especially after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, where he had said –

‘I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos. It would have never happened on my watch.’

While his statement came as a pleasant surprise, as few western leaders are willing to take up the subject of Hindu genocide in Bangladesh or Pakistan; it remains to be seen what concrete steps Trump takes to counter the non-stop Islamic assault on Hindus in these two nations.

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