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
Bangladesh: Muslims chanted ‘Allahu-Akbar’ and announces not to allow any celebrations of Durga Puja. pic.twitter.com/kr1St8yhOD
— aboyob bhuyan (@aboyobbhuyan) September 28, 2024
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.
"Puja hote debo naa…." We will not allow Durga Puja.
Bangladeshi Muslims on streets demanding banning #DurgaPuja from #Bangladesh.
Most Durga Puja organizers have also received extortion letters, demanding Rs 5 lakhs if they wish to continue with the festivities pic.twitter.com/BLQVCUlqdj
— Uncut Version International (@uncutversion123) September 28, 2024
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.
Hindus in Khulna were given a stark ultimatum: pay five lakh Bangladeshi Taka per temple to celebrate Durga Puja.
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.
Durga Puja: A Perenial Victim Of Bangladeshi Intolerance!
VIDEO | "The situation is very critical in Bangladesh. We have received many phone calls from people there saying that Muslim organisations are taking rallies on the ground and demanding the government to stop the Durga Puja celebrations. We saw that in 2021 many people were… pic.twitter.com/N7l8HA8YwJ
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 25, 2024
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.
Harmfuls desecrate Durga Puja pandal in Bangladesh. Bengali Harmfuls have been doing this for over a century. They led the Direct Action Day that led to deaths of over 10,000 Hindus in 1946. It isn't the Pakistani Punjabi Harmful but the Bengali Harmful who is more fanatic. pic.twitter.com/ahrQsEY56j
— Rakesh Krishnan Simha (@ByRakeshSimha) November 7, 2021
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.
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has said that the people behind the violence during Durga puja in Cumilla city will be hunted down & given "appropriate punishments" in order to stop the recurrence of such communal acts: Bangladesh media
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/2ykKt0FtsA
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2021
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
Where's All Eyes On Indan Muslim.
Bangladesh: Protests have erupted in Dhaka against the Durga Puja celebrations.
Protesters argue that if Hindus conduct their Puja on the ground, it will render the area unholy, as they claim to perform namaz there during Eid.
Muslim groups in… pic.twitter.com/xedTaguNb7— श्रवण बिश्नोई (किसान) (@SharwanKumarBi7) September 24, 2024
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.
As the Durga Puja festival approaches, radical groups in B'desh are warning Hindus and opposing the festival's open celebration.
Dr Mohammad Yunus took the power unconstitutionally, and illegally. He captured power with dirty politics, & a lot of people were killed: Bangladeshi… pic.twitter.com/05caMhjFBw
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 27, 2024
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.
The most powerful video on the internet today 🔥🔥
Hindus have united in Bangladesh 🇧🇩, carrying flaming torches in hand, declaring that we will celebrate Durga Puja pic.twitter.com/mWYKHAc2t2
— Shailendra Tripathi (@OurShailendra) September 28, 2024
Bangladesh’s Full Circle of Destruction
Important thread❗
In December 1963, the so called "Prophet's hair" was stolen from a Dargah in Kashmir. As soon as the news reached East Pakistan (Bangladesh), Jihad was declared against Hindus from Mosques in Dhaka.
Rioters went around shouting "kiII the Hindus". A 20,000… pic.twitter.com/DZWBPc7bFX
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) August 6, 2024
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.
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.