The upsurge in Bangladesh has been a major phenomenon, which not only shook that country to the core but also saw a lot of fake news and Islamophobia getting intensified in India. Sheikh Hasina has been ruling Bangladesh with an iron hand for the last fifteen years, totally suppressing the opposition to the extent of imprisoning or imposing house arrest on the major opposition leaders. 

The student protest that erupted in the country on the issue of “reservations for freedom fighters’ children” continued nearly 50 years after the country was formed when it struggled to get released from the clutches of Pakistan. The issue has been agitating the Bangladesh youth and they met with suppression from the Hasina Government, leading to the massive upsurge.

With Hasina’s leaving the country, all hell broke loose. There were attacks on Awami League supporters, and burning of Awami League offices in the main.  According to the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad”, minority communities in Bangladesh faced 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts since the fall of the Hasina government on August 5. Prof. Yunus was the choice of students to lead the interim Government. There was a massive rally of minorities calling for their protection. Prof. Yunus immediately issued an appeal, “…urged the student protesters to protect all minority communities, including Hindu, Christian and Buddhists, from being targeted.”Are they not the people of this country? You have been able to save the country. Can't you save some families?" he asked the student protesters.

Fake news and hate mongering

This was a powerful appeal and as per Mahfouz Anam, editor of Bangladesh’s Daily Star, the violence against Hindus stopped, to the extent that the right-wing Jamat-E-Islami formed teams to protect the temples. The learned editor, in an interview given to Wire’s Karan Thapar, also pointed out that rightists in Bangladesh and India feed each other. As per him after the fifth day, the attack on minorities came to a total halt. He and many other YouTubers have pointed out that in India many of the rumors and fake news have been circulated without any fact check.

One major example is the news and visual that cricketer Liton Das’s House was put on fire. The BBC fact check revealed that it was the house of another cricketer, Mashrafe Mortaza, a former captain who was an Awami League MP for two terms. Similarly another visual shows the burning of a temple in Chittagong. The fact check showed that what was put to fire was the Awami League office, which was near the temple. Such examples abound, showing the burning of Hindu temples and the killing of Hindus. 

Other visuals that have not been shown and those are of students forming teams to protect Hindu temples. “Both, Hindus and Muslims are victims. But they cherry-pick and highlight the politically motivated attacks as communal. When the victim is Hindu, all incidents are widely propagated as communal persecution, which will increase anti-Muslim hatred in India.” (Shohanur Rahman, a fact checker, to The Quint)

Now, the two important power centres in Bangladesh are the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus and the students who led the protests. Both are stressing the inclusive character of Bangladesh and taking a strong position on the protection of Hindus and other minorities. Undoubtedly Jamaat-e-Islami dreams of an Islamic state, and there is Khaleda Zia of BNP, who is also pro-right, and pro-Islamist, but the majority opinion in the country is tilted towards the attitudes that Yunus and students are displaying. Prof. Yunus, true to his pluralism, visited the famous Dhakeshri temple (August 13) in Dhaka and met Hindu leaders to assuage their pain and ensure their safety. 

Here in India the hate mongers and votaries of Hindu nationalism are spreading hate and sending inciting messages with gay abandon. BJP’s MP, Kangana Ranaut, tweeted, “Peace is not air or sunlight that you think is your birthright and will come to you for free. Mahabharata ho ya Ramayana biggest battles in the history of the world have been fought for peace. Pick your swords and keep them sharp, practice some combat form daily." Many others are deliberately calling the People’s Republic of Bangladesh as ‘Islamic Republic of Bangladesh’ with motives that are very retrograde.

Minority rights not selective 

Along similar lines, many trolls and leaders of the BJP are spreading such things which incite the people. What is needed at the moment? We must stand with the rights of religious minorities in Bangladesh. As the interim government is calling for protection of minorities and as minorities could successfully stage a demonstration for their rights, it seems there is some space for democratic secular values that need to be appreciated and supported. Violation of minority rights cannot be selective. We need to stand for it at home to show an ideal to the neighboring countries.

South Asia as such has been going through a phase of sectarian nationalism. Sri Lanka’s, sectarianism was so much visible a year ago. Pakistan is the major violator of these minority rights and Myanmar is also toeing similar lines. Those indulging in ‘take out swords’ and other hateful messages; get away with such tweets without facing the charges of Hate speech and they promote divisiveness.

The responsibility of those striving for pluralism and democracy is immense at the moment. The hate mongers have erected huge machinery to do their divisive job. More believers in peace and amity will have to come forward to combat this Hate by widening their net and intensifying the process of fact-checking.

Hasina had a dual character. At one level she was very dictatorial and at another; pluralism survived to some extent. What is needed is the implementation of pluralism and democracy. The Bangladesh government faces the challenge of bringing both components into practice. Yunus’s temple visit gives lots of hope for secularism in Bangladesh. We need to strive to promote intercommunity relations, affirmative action for minorities, and standing for upholding the human rights of all in South Asia while shunning hate-mongering against any community.      

(The writer, a former IIT Bombay professor, is Chairman, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. Views expressed are the author's own.)