Durga Temple in Dhaka Demolished Days After Mob’s Ultimatum

On June 26, 2025, the Khilkhet Sarbajanin Durga Mandir in Dhaka was reduced to rubble—not by a mob, but by the Bangladeshi State itself. Two days earlier, an Islamist mob had gathered, issuing an ultimatum to remove the temple within 12 hours. Instead of protecting the Durga temple and its devotees, the interim government under Muhammad Yunus obliged the radicals.

Army and police personnel arrived with bulldozers from the Purbachal Army Camp. Devotees begged to delay the demolition until the Rath Yatra passed. The army ignored the pleas. Idols of Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva were smashed under the bulldozer treads. Puja materials and sanctified items were flattened. The temple, which had stood for over fifty years, was erased like an illegal encampment.

All this, the administration justified as an ‘eviction’ from railway land, a claim the Hindu community contests, pointing out that the Durga temple land was donated by the railways and the temple stood there with the full knowledge of local authorities for decades.

Bangladesh’s Radical Drift

This is not a one-off. This is a pattern. Since the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government and the rise of Muhammad Yunus as the head of an interim regime, Bangladesh has spiraled into Islamist appeasement.

Minority Hindus have been targeted repeatedly. From economic exclusion to direct physical violence, Hindus are being erased both from the marketplace and from public life. Temples are being torn down, land grabbed, and idols desecrated. And all of it is happening in broad daylight, without fear of consequence.

The Dhaka demolition was carried out within 48 hours of mob threats. There was no notice, no procedure, no relocation effort. Because the message is clear: Hindu rights mean nothing in today’s Bangladesh.

India’s Response: Strong Words, Strategic Shifts

India has not remained silent. The Ministry of External Affairs officially denounced the demolition. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We are dismayed that such incidents continue to recur in Bangladesh… It is the interim government’s responsibility to protect Hindus and their religious institutions.”

But India’s reaction hasn’t stopped at words. Since the coup in August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina was ousted and took shelter in India, New Delhi has recalibrated its approach. First, it terminated the transshipment facility for Bangladeshi goods through Indian ports and airports. Then, it curbed exports of Bangladeshi consumer goods via land ports, citing the need for fairness, reciprocity, and equal treatment as requested from Bangladesh.

India has also begun consultations on reviewing the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty, which is set to expire in 2026. Unlike before, it will not be automatically renewed. New Delhi has made it clear: cooperation depends on conduct.

These moves come against a backdrop of Dhaka tilting toward anti-India forces, signing strategic agreements with China, and participating in trilateral meetings involving Pakistan. India’s message is now unmistakable: working against Indian interests will carry a cost.

A Deaf World and a Dying Minority

What if this happened in India? What if a mosque had been bulldozed following Hindu mob threats? The global media would scream genocide, fascism, and the death of democracy. Yet in Bangladesh, no headlines, no outrage.

Because the victims are Hindus.

The world tolerates what it would never excuse elsewhere. Bangladesh is conducting a slow, calculated erasure of its Hindu population, religiously, economically, and physically. The international community remains mute. But for how long?

If Hindus can be destroyed without notice, without outrage, without consequence, then the silence isn’t neutrality, it’s complicity.