Sunday, February 16, 2025

Bangladesh’s Descent into Radical Islam: Durga Puja Faces the Final Blow

Must Read

Like every year, this Durga Puja also suffers the dark shadow of radical Islamists. However, this time the Bangladeshi Muslims are emboldened due to the deficient law and order situation in the nation. In 1971, Bangladesh broke free from Pakistan, rejecting the oppressive, Islamic harliner identity imposed by Islamabad. The nation’s fight for independence was not just for political autonomy but to protect its Bengali culture and language. Bangladesh once stood in stark contrast to Pakistan’s hardline Islamic nationalism.

Today, 53 years later, Bangladesh seems to have come full circle. As Durga Puja 2024 approaches, the interim government has already placed unforgiving restrictions on the celebration. However, radical Islamic groups have issued new and chilling warnings to the country’s Hindu minority: pay jizya, stop celebrating Durga Puja, or face the consequences. This year’s anti-Hindu pogroms mark the final stage of Bangladesh’s transformation from a secular Bengali nation to a state resembling the Islamist ideology of East Pakistan.

Calls for Ban and Jizya in Bangladesh Threaten Durga Puja

- Advertisement -

Radical Islamic organizations in Bangladesh stand emboldened by the political vacuum following Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. These hardline Muslims have already placed severe restrictions on Durga Puja celebrations. Additionally, groups like Insaf Keemkari Chhatra-Janta have taken to the streets, demanding a ban on public celebrations, idol worship, and immersion ceremonies. The group presented a 16-point list of demands, which included a complete cessation of using public spaces for Hindu worship, banning government funds for Hindu festivals, and preventing the closure of roads during religious events.

- Advertisement -

Most disturbingly, the Hindu minority has been asked to pay exorbitant sums in the form of jizya to ensure the safety of their religious events.

Image
PC X @TheQuotesLive

Hindus in Khulna were given a stark ultimatum: pay five lakh Bangladeshi Taka per temple to celebrate Durga Puja.

- Advertisement -

Those who fail to comply face violent retribution, with threats of beheadings and massacres hanging over their heads. The Yunus military-backed administration makes no moves to protect the Hindu minority. Thereby, leaving them vulnerable to Islamists as they prepare for a festival that has become a battleground of survival.

Image
PC X @SanatanPrabhat

Durga Puja: A Perenial Victim Of Bangladeshi Intolerance! 

The Hindu community in Bangladesh has long endured attacks during Durga Puja. Each year the aggression against Hindus is becoming increasingly dangerous. Over the past decade, the rise of radical Islamist groups has led to a surge in attacks on temples, vandalism of idols, and harassment of devotees. Reports of mobs destroying Durga idols have become a regular occurrence, often met with silence from local authorities.

In 2021, a fierce wave of violence swept through the country during Durga Puja, with Hindu temples being desecrated and looted, and Hindu families being forced to flee their homes.

In the district of Cumilla, a staged incident of Quran desecration ensured that a Durga Puja pandal suffered mass riots. Despite appeals for protection, the government’s response to the Hindu minority is traditionally steeped in tepid words of assurance. Each year, Durga Puja, becomes a period of fear and mourning for Bangladesh’s Hindu minority. The attacks on Hindu property, businesses, and lives are designed to instill terror, pushing the minority community to the margins.

Bangladesh at the Final Stage of Descent into Radical Islam

The events unfolding today in Bangladesh are not isolated. Instead, they represent the final stage of the country’s descent into Islamist extremism. After decades of subtle erosion of the country’s secular Bengali identity, the Islamist agenda is now fully in control. Since the ouster of the Awami League’s Sheikh Haina government, radical groups have gained more power.

Therefore, today, the anti-Hindu pogroms and violence against Non-Muslims are conducted with impunity.

Under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh maintained a fragile balance between its Islamic faith and Bengali identity. However, her exit from the political scene and the rise of a Mohammed Yunus interim government has signaled the end of this balance. Contrarily, Yunus is holidaying right now, by handing over control to the military. Meanwhile, the minorities of Bangladesh face an existential crisis under Islamic extremist forces.

These radical Muslims are now dismantling whatever remains of Bangladesh’s Bengali identity, replacing it with a dogmatic Islamist framework where non-Muslims are treated as second-class citizens.

The imposition of jizya-like taxes on Hindus, the demands to curtail Durga Puja celebrations, and the relentless attacks on Hindu temples are all symptoms of a broader, more dangerous shift. Bangladesh is now on the path to becoming a fundamentalist Islamic state, much like East Pakistan before 1971. Hence, this radicalization is not only present in political corridors but has seeped into the mindset of the masses, where anti-Hindu and anti-India sentiments are flourishing.

Bangladesh’s Full Circle of Destruction

Bangladesh’s trajectory from a proud, culturally rich nation to a fundamentalist Islamic state is nearly complete. The current threats against Durga Puja are symbolic of the larger war being waged against Bangladesh’s very identity. In 1971, Bangladesh emerged from the bloodshed with its head held high, celebrating its Bengali roots and rejecting Pakistan’s hyper-Islamist control.

Bangladeshis can now travel to Pakistan visa-free: High Commissioner | News | The Mirror Asia
PC The Mirror Asia

Today, it appears the forces of radical razakars and Islamists have won, and Bangladesh is on the verge of becoming the East Pakistan it once despised.

The pogroms against Hindus and other non-Muslims are at their peak. And as Durga Puja nears, the threat of minority bloodshed looms large. With the military in control and Yunus holidaying abroad, the Hindu community is left to fend for itself, with little hope of protection. Therefore, rivers of Hindu blood may flow during this year’s Durga Puja. And that will be a tragic testament to how far Bangladesh has fallen. The nation is no longer the bastion of Bengali pride but a state succumbing to the darkest forces of radical Islam.

- Advertisement -

More articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Article