Even weeks after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country, the wrath of some Bangladeshi Muslims shows no signs of dying down. Anti-Hindu sentiment is at its all-time high since the creation of Bangladesh and the 1992 anti-Hindu riots. The harassment of Hindus continues, and the Muslims from all walks of life join forces in coming up with new ways of tormenting them every day. A recent trend that Muslim students in Bangladesh have begun involves surrounding Hindu teachers working in educational institutions and forcing them to resign from their posts.
Hindu teachers of Azimpur Government Girls’ School and College recounted their ordeal while speaking to The Daily Star, a leading news portal in Bangladesh. On August 18, a mob of 50 students stormed the principal’s office and demanded that three teachers resign. One of them, Barua, said: “Before August 18, they never sought my resignation. That morning, they stormed my office and humiliated me.”
Shanjay Kumar Mukherjee, an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Governance Studies at Kazi Nazrul University, recounted how he was forced to relinquish his position, highlighting the fact that Hindu teachers have become “very vulnerable” in the Muslim-majority country.
A notably high-profile and discreditable act of forced resignation sought from Hindu teachers was that of Shukla Rani Halder, the principal of Bakerganj Government College in Barishal. The Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo reports that on Thursday, August 29, a throng of students accompanied by outsiders swarmed into her office, demanding her resignation. After hours of intimidation, the distressed female principal had no choice but to comply, writing down “I resign” on a sheet of blank paper and signing it.
Similar incidents have occurred throughout the country. Photos and videos circulating on social media show teachers and academic administrators of the Hindu faith being coerced into signing resignation letters by crowds of jeering and sloganeering students. Videos of hijab-clad girls charging upon the nervous and hapless teachers, screaming loudly and without an ounce of civility, have surfaced. These videos are quite disturbing, and indicative of how vicious some of the Muslims who are thriving in Bangladeshi colleges really are.
After looting Hindu homes and burning their shops, physically intimidating lone Hindus, a mob of violent and aggressive Muslim students shouting abuse and forcing them to sign their resignation letters is just another way of establishing the fact that some Muslims will not allow Hindus to earn a livelihood in Bangladesh, thus denying the fundamental rights of life.
Nearly 50 teachers from minority communities were allegedly forced to resign in Bangladesh; these are the numbers as per the latest reports, and it’s safe to assume that these are only rising and not being reported very effectively. The interim government has already fallen into the hands of Islamic hardliners who will suppress accurate reports on atrocities on Hindus.
The Daily Star quoted the Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad on Saturday as stating that teachers across the country are facing physical assault. The Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad, the student wing of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, held a press conference on Saturday, August 31. They have been successful in reinstating 19 cases of such forced resignations.
Hindus, who form about eight percent of Bangladesh’s total population, are known to have historically supported Sheikh Hasina’s seemingly secular Awami League party. While none of the two predominant political parties in Bangladesh are anywhere closer to being genuinely secular, Hasina’s party was the lesser demon compared to the opposition bloc, which includes a hardline Islamic party and is supported by some borderline jihadi outfits. Minority communities have faced more than 200 attacks and suffered over 230 deaths since August 5. While the interim ruler, Muhammad Yunus, has vowed to promote interfaith harmony in the country, he claims that he aims at building a need to be guarded; his words come off as hollow and insincere in light of the increasing hostility of Bangladeshis towards non-Muslims.
Mike says
In recent years, Bangladesh had been showing signs of tolerance and development.
If it wants to go the other route, and become a bigoted, small-minded, oppressive, dirt-poor, Islamist hellhole like Pakistan is overall, then that’s up to them as well.
If it’s the latter, then Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities in Bangladesh should move to India and elsewhere, just as religious minorities in Pakistan should likewise do.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
This purge of Hindus has been going on for weeks now. Unfortunately, they’re blocked from fleeing to India by India – so much for the myth that Modi is a Hindu nationalist. In fact, the only people who have been successfully escaping to India are muslims either belonging to Hasina’s party or even others
But yeah, in school after college after university, Hindu staff have been forced to resign