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Arrest Of ISKCON Monk In Dhaka Yet Another Proof Of Yunus Administration Caving In To Bangladeshi Islamists' Wishes
- Bangladesh's Islamists had kept up pressure on the Yunus administration to take visible action against the ISKCON monk and other Hindu leaders.
ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das
The dramatic arrest of a Hindu monk from Dhaka airport Monday afternoon (25 November) shows once again that the interim government in Bangladesh, headed by Muhammad Yunus, has caved in to the country’s Islamists' wishes.
Chinmoy Krishna Das, a senior monk of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and who has been leading protests by Hindus against the community’s unabated persecution by Muslims in the country, was arrested on what are largely seen as fake and trumped-up charges.
Why Das Has Been Targeted
Das was a leading figure in the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote, a body formed to protect Hindu rights and interests.
He came into the limelight after the Jote organised a massive rally at Chittagong on 25 October to protest against continuing attacks on Hindus and other religious minorities in the country.
That rally, followed closely by another massive rally by Hindus in Dhaka early this month, embarrassed the Yunus administration, which has been rejecting accusations of attacks on Hindus in the country.
Yunus and his colleagues in the administration have been terming reports of attacks on the country’s religious minorities as “vastly exaggerated.” But the rallies in Chittagong and Dhaka busted that lie and drew attention to the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh.
The success of the two rallies, as well as the demands by Hindus for protection and constitutional safeguards, have not only angered the Yunus administration but also Bangladesh’s Islamists, who have been allowed by Yunus to spread their influence since early August, after the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Fake Sedition Charge
At the 25 October rally, a protester climbed a post that had Bangladesh’s national flag and hoisted a saffron flag on top of the pole. It constituted a violation of Section 7 (VII) of Bangladesh’s flag code, a bailable offence punishable by a simple imprisonment of a couple of months.
But a junior activist of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) filed a complaint charging Das and some others with sedition. The police registered the complaint, even though Das and the others named in the complaint were not responsible for hoisting the saffron flag atop the country’s national flag.
The police also went along with the sedition charge, even though nothing in Bangladesh’s laws provides for registering a charge of sedition for violating the country’s flag code.
To the BNP’s credit, the party’s senior leadership promptly expelled the junior functionary who lodged the complaint against Das and others.
Hinduphobic Islamists Demand Action Against Das
The country’s Islamists were up in arms demanding not only the arrest of the ISKCON monk and other prominent Hindus but also a ban on ISKCON.
Instead of rejecting the Islamists’ demands, the Yunus administration silently encouraged the radical Muslims of Bangladesh, who want to exterminate Hindus and other religious minorities in the country (read this).
According to many close to the Yunus administration, the government had initiated the move to ban ISKCON. But the surprise win of Donald Trump, who had criticised the “barbaric attacks” on Hindus in Bangladesh, in the United States' presidential election forced a rethink (read this).
However, the Islamists in Bangladesh kept up pressure on the Yunus administration to take some visible action against Das and other Hindu community leaders who had ‘dared’ to organise protests against their persecution and demanded protection of their rights.
What was especially galling to the Islamists, who have become powerful under Yunus' rule, was the demand by Hindus for prosecution of all those who had committed atrocities on Hindus, setting up of a minority affairs ministry, and reservation in seats in Parliament for Hindus.
Yunus Administration Has Caved In
The dramatic arrest of the ISKCON monk, who heads the Vaishnavite order’s Pundarik dham in Chittagong, from Dhaka airport on Monday is evidence that the Yunus administration has submitted to the demands of Islamists.
Das was on a scheduled commercial flight from Dhaka to Chittagong and was not trying to flee the country. “He could have been arrested from anywhere, but the Yunus administration deliberately passed orders to arrest him from the airport, so as to make it a high-profile one,” said Paul.
He added that this was done to appease the Hinduphobic Islamists of Bangladesh, who have been allowed by the Yunus administration to wield a lot of power and influence in the country.
“Had the Yunus administration been fair and impartial and had it upheld the law of the land, the sedition charge should not have been accepted at all, and the police should have registered a simple flag code violation case against the person who hoisted the saffron flag atop the country’s national flag. And Das and other Hindu community leaders, who had nothing to do with the violation, should not have been named in the FIR at all. But it was done to appease the Islamists,” a prominent Supreme Court lawyer affiliated to the BNP told Swarajya over the phone from Dhaka.
Protests and Condemnations
Das’ arrest has sparked vociferous protests by Hindus across Bangladesh. Hindus in large numbers took to the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, and other cities across the country to protest the arrest and demand the monk’s immediate release.
The monk, who had also been holding discussions with political parties like the BNP to ensure protection of Hindus and communal harmony in the country, is said to be in the custody of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
But the protest rallies by Hindus in Dhaka Monday evening were attacked by Muslim radicals, leaving many Hindus injured. The police, according to eyewitness reports, did nothing to stop the attacks on the Hindu protestors.
Bengal's leader of opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, posted on X against the arrest “on flimsy grounds and frivolous charges of sedition.” He also said Das had “taken up the mantle of restoring the dignity and respect for the Bangladeshi Sanatani Community, who have been relegated as 2nd Class Citizens.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president and junior Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar also took to X to condemn the arrest, and urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to take up the matter with the Bangladesh government.
ISKCON also opposed the arrest and sought the intervention of the Government of India. It rejected the charges levelled by Bangladesh’s Islamists, who have tried to portray the Bhakti movement as a ‘terrorist organisation’.
“It is outrageous to make baseless allegations that ISKCON has anything to do with terrorism anywhere in the world. ISKCON urges the Government of India to take immediate steps and speak to the Government of Bangladesh and convey that we are a peace-loving Bhakti movement,” the ISKCON said in its post on X.
It is learnt that a lot of pressure is building on the Yunus administration to release the ISKCON monk and drop charges against him and 18 others named in the police complaint.
But it will be interesting to see what the Yunus administration does now — release Das and incur the wrath of the Islamists or keep the monk in custody to appease the radical mullahs at the risk of global opprobrium.
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