Hindu Homes and Temples Vandalized in Bangladesh After Prime Minister’s Ouster

The Bangladeshi Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) said on Tuesday that hundreds of Hindu homes, businesses, and temples have been vandalized since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced out of office by protesters over the weekend.

Hasina ended a 15-year run as prime minister on Monday by resigning and fleeing the country while protesters stormed her residence in the national capital of Dhaka. She has taken refuge in Hindu-majority India.

Indian intelligence officials said on Tuesday they believe the protests, which were ostensibly about the quota system for government jobs in Bangladesh, were orchestrated by China and Pakistan to install a government more amenable to China’s ambitions, and more hostile to India.

These Indian officials accused Pakistan’s infamous ISI intelligence service of working with Islamist groups in Bangladesh, which is about 90 percent Muslim. Islam is the state religion of Bangladesh, which broke away from Pakistan in a revolutionary war in 1971.

Hasina hails from a prominent Muslim family but was friendly to India, where she lived during the 1970s. She spent years exiled in India after her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — the “father” and first president of independent Bangladesh — was assassinated along with most of his family in 1975. 

The BBC on Tuesday regretfully described Hasina as a “pro-democracy icon who became an autocrat.” Bangladesh flourished economically under her administration, in no small part due to good relations with India. She signed a major water-sharing deal with India soon after coming to power in a popular uprising against a military junta, and it was unquestionably a boon for Bangladesh, but over time her critics accused her of giving India too much sway over government policies.

Hasina unquestionably became more ruthless in dealing with her opponents over the past few years, and they were ruth

less in turn. She waged a bitter feud with rival Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the duo earning the sobriquet of “battling begums” – begum being a term for high-ranking Muslim women. Khaleda was actually the first female prime minister of Bangladesh, having won the office in 1991 with the help of Islamic groups. 

The two begums have taken turns tossing each other in jail over the years, and when Khaleda’s second term as prime minister was terminated by a military coup in 2006, the junta threw both of them in prison. Each has accused the other of corruption and tyranny.

Khaleda’s allies were accused of attempting to assassinate Hasina in 2004 by lobbing hand grenades into a political rally, killing more than 20 people. Khaleda’s son was tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison for organizing the attack.

The BHBCUC said on Tuesday that Hasina’s ouster appears to have unleashed years of simmering Muslim anger at the Hindu minority, most of whom belong to Hasina’s political party, the Awami League.

“The communal atrocities erupted hours before she resigned. Although there is no killing, there is injury. Houses and businesses of minorities, especially Hindus, as well as temples, have been targeted, looted, damaged,” BHBCUC general secretary Rana Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta said he was personally assaulted by an unidentified individual who threw a brick at his car on Monday.

“I stand against communal atrocities and will not stop. Until my death, I shall fight for them. I may not be able to physically protect them, but I can give them courage. I may not be able to resist attacks, but I can protest,” he said.

“The situation is horrific,” added fellow Hindu community leader Manindra Kumar Nath. “Even today, we are getting calls from people asking us to save their lives, but we are not receiving any support from anywhere.”

A Hindu named Avirup Sarkar told the BBC on Tuesday that his cousin in Bangladesh was menaced by a mob that “attacked” and “plundered” her home.

“You people are descendants of the Awami League! This country is in a bad shape because of you. You should leave the country!” Sarkar said the mob shouted at his cousin and other Hindus.

Sarkar said some of his family’s properties have been spared, apparently because they were not on the revenge lists drafted by Muslim groups in their neighborhood, but dozens of other homes have been attacked and Hindu shops looted.

“Bangladeshi Hindus are an easy target. Every time the Awami League loses power, they are attacked,” he said.

Sarkar added a note of appreciation for Muslims in Bangladesh who have “protected Hindu properties” from the mobs.

Bangladeshi folk singer Rahul Ananda said on Wednesday he narrowly escaped injury with his wife and son when his home in Dhaka was sacked and burned by a mob. A source within his family said the mob “took everything from furniture and mirrors to valuables,” then “torched the house” along with the famed singer’s musical instruments.

Ananda’s friends and fellow musicians said his home was also his studio, a landmark for Hindus, and a major cultural hub for Bangladesh. They said the musical instruments burned by the mob truly belonged to “all young musicians” in Bangladesh.

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday it was “particularly worrying” that “minorities, their businesses and temples also came under attack at multiple locations.”

Jaishankar said most of the 9,000 Indian exchange students living in Bangladesh have returned home due to the protests. Roughly 19,000 Indian nationals currently live in Bangladesh.

India’s The Print on Tuesday said Hasina sealed her own fate by submitting to Islamists, granting them “vast amounts of land and huge sums of wealth to enable the building of more madrassas,” even as she cultivated an image as a progressive champion opposed to Islamic fundamentalism.

The Print chided Hasina for allowing “hundreds of Islamic preachers who were anti-women and anti-Hindus to indoctrinate young people,” permitting Hindu authors to be “erased from school textbooks,” and silencing “free thinkers” who “critically scrutinized Islam.”

In short, the argument was that Hasina made too many concessions to Islamists, creating the social and academic environment that would eventually erupt against her, and that could now shift Bangladesh’s alignment away from India and toward Pakistan and its ally China.