 "On Monday, an Indian cultural centre in Dhaka and four Hindu temples across the country were attacked. AP")
Does India need to brace for a refugee crisis?
Bangladesh has seen a spate of violent attacks on Hindus, their homes and their places of worship in the political turmoil accompanying Sheikh Hasina’s exit, according to several media reports.
Two Hindu councillors were left dead in Sunday’s violence while a number of homes and temples belonging to the community were vandalised.
On Monday, an Indian cultural centre in Dhaka and four Hindu temples across the country were attacked.
But what happened exactly? Should India brace for a refugee crisis?
Let’s take a closer look:
What happened?
As per The Daily Star, Haradhan Roy was of the Parshuram Thana Awami League and councillor of Ward 4 in Rangpur city was killed on Sunday.
Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister, wrote about Roy’s lynching on social media.
“As a Bengali Hindu and a descendant of refugees, find this particularly chilling,” he posted on X.
As per New Indian Express, Kajal Roy, a Hindu councillor from Rangpur, was also among the 100 killed in Sunday’s violence.
Meanwhile, homes and temples belonging to Hindus, including ISKCON and Kali temples, were attacked.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOn Monday, the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi, was vandalised.
The Centre, formally inaugurated in March 2010, promotes bilateral cultural linkages between India and Bangladesh by organising cultural programmes, cultural seminars, workshops and engaging India based Gurus professionals and trainers for Yoga, Hindi, Indian classical Vocal Music and Indian Dances such as Kathak and Manipuri.
It also engages high class professionals from Bangladesh who had their training from Indian Gurus or in Indian Universities.
The Centre, a Cultural Centre of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations of India, has a library with over 21,000 books in the fields of Indian art, culture, politics, economics and fiction.
As per News18, an ISKCON temple in Bangladesh’s Meherpur was set ablaze on Monday.
“One of our ISKCON centres (rented) in Meherpur was burnt, including the deities of Lord Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra Devi. Three devotees who lived in the centre somehow managed to escape and survive,” ISKCON spokesperson Yudhistir Govinda Das tweeted.
A Kali temple in the same area was also set ablaze.
A number of videos purportedly of Hindus being attacked in Bangladesh have gone viral.
These include a woman pleading for her life in front of a mob, a temple in Navgraha Bari being set ablaze and another woman screaming while a man sets a house on fire.
Firstpost has not confirmed the authenticity of the videos.
Kajol Debnath, leader of the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, told the Economic Times that the temples suffered minor damage.
But that will be of little comfort to Hindus, who comprise around eight per cent of Bangladesh’s population – around 13 million people.
“My phone is flooded with SOS, videos, and details of Hindus being attacked, and killed in Bangladesh as we speak now. Temples are being attacked at a very large scale. Let me tell you, in Dhaka, even Muslims who supported the Awami League are at life risk now. Cars are being checked. I know a journalist who called me pleading to rescue him to New Delhi. He is a Muslim. Now, imagine the condition of Hindus in Bangladesh. Even as you and I talk, the tolls are mounting in real-time, most of which will go unreported and whose photos will be labelled ‘fake news’ from a section of even this side of the border,” Deep Halder, author of the book Being Hindu in Bangladesh told News18.
Monindra Kumar Nath, senior joint general secretary of Oikya Parishad, told Daily Star the community is frightened.
“They (Hindus) are crying, saying they are being beaten up, and their houses and businesses are being looted. What is our fault? Is it our fault that we are citizens of the country?” Nath said.
“Where would we go if such attacks continue here? How can we console the members of the Hindu community?” he further said.
Should India brace for a refugee crisis?
The possibility that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami could come to power has raised fears of a possible refugee crisis in India.
The two countries share a 4,096-kilometre border along West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
As per Deccan Herald, many are worried about a redux of the situation that Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland are facing after the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government was overthrown in Myanmar.
Over 35,000 refugees from Myanmar including MPs and ministers remain in Mizoram.
The crisis was thought to be one of the reasons behind the Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur.
In Assam, the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), in a statement demanded that the Centre take immediate steps to secure the border.
“Immediate steps must be taken to prevent influx as Assam cannot take further burden of illegal migrants. The BJP-led government has failed to fence the borders, identify and expel the foreigners as agreed in the Assam Accord of 1985. The National Register of Citizens (NRC), which sought to detect all post-1971 immigrants, has still not been implemented. The fear of infiltration has increased after the Narendra Modi government implemented the CAA that seeks to welcome the non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, till 2014,” AJP general secretary, Lurinjyoti Gogoi wrote.
The Print quoted sources in the West Bengal government as saying that the Indian Army has been positioned in Bongaon and Cooch Behar along the border.
Meanwhile, Border Security Force (BSF) director-general has also changed his schedule to reach Kolkata.
BSF sources told The Print that the situation along the border remains normal.
Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, warned the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal to brace itself.
“If this situation doesn’t come under control within three days, mentally, be prepared to give refuge to one crore Hindu refugees. The Centre should inform the (Bengal) Governor and Chief Minister. There is CAA. If the situation is not controlled there, Jamaat and radicals will take control,” Adhikari said.
Jaishankar on Tuesday said the situation in Bangladesh was ‘still evolving,’ as per The Tribune.
“The situation in Bangladesh, is still evolving. The Army Chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman spoke about assuming responsibility and constituting an interim government," Jaishankar said.
He added that it is “particularly worrying that minorities, their businesses and temples also came under attack at multiple locations. The full extent of this is still not clear."
India on Sunday night strongly advised all its nationals presently residing in Bangladesh to exercise “extreme caution” and restrict their movements in the wake of fresh waves of violence in the neighbouring country.
In its latest advisory, India also asked its citizens not to travel to Bangladesh till further notice.
“In view of ongoing developments, Indian nationals are strongly advised against travelling to Bangladesh till further notice,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in the advisory.
“All Indian nationals presently in Bangladesh are advised to exercise extreme caution, restrict their movements and remain in contact with the High Commission of India in Dhaka,” it said.
The student protests in Bangladesh started last month against a controversial job quota scheme. The protests now have turned into an anti-government agitation.
On July 25, the MEA said around 6,700 Indian students returned from Bangladesh in view of the situation in that country.
With inputs from agencies