The arrest of a Hindu monk in Bangladesh this week has amplified fears concerning the security of religious minorities in the country more than three months after the former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, was ousted from power and fled the nation. Bangladesh’s interim government, under the Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, has repeatedly insisted that it is committed to protecting members of all communities and that it does not support violence against minorities. However, these words have not been backed by action. Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the arrested monk, has been charged with sedition because the Bangladesh flag was allegedly disrespected at a rally that he addressed in October on defending the rights of Hindus in the country. The Bangladesh government has since also sought a ban against the country chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hindu group that
Mr Brahmachari is believed to be associated with. This, after Mr Brahmachari’s arrest spawned protests across the country that escalated into clashes between the monk’s supporters and the police — a lawyer was killed in the violence.

A court has, for now, not signed onto the request for the ban on ISKCON but the Bangladesh government’s plea for the proscription of the group does not remove the doubts as far its intentions are concerned. If calming tensions and reassuring Hindus and other minority groups were a priority for Mr Yunus and his team — as it should be — they would have focused on an outreach with ISKCON and the other groups representing communities that are under siege rather than targeting them. To be sure, there have been allegations of sections of India’s media and its political class exaggerating on occasion the scale of violence that Hindus have faced in Bangladesh. Yet there is no denying the attacks on individuals, neighbourhoods and the community’s institutions. Some of these have led to deaths. There is also no escaping the deep sense of insecurity that grips Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh today. That is unfortunate for a country that for a long had attempted to build a far more inclusive society than that of Pakistan, the country it broke away from 53 years ago. Mr Yunus and his government were given a chance to build a new Bangladesh, reflecting the hopes of the youth who felt ignored by Ms Wazed’s administration. They cannot do that by ignoring the legitimate fears of the country’s minorities.