Saturday, 30 November 2024
Saturday, 30 November 2024
Bangladesh on Friday claimed New Delhi followed "double standards" on protection of minority communities and accused India’s media of conducting an "industrial scale misinformation campaign" against Dhaka.
Amid a row over the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das on sedition charges, Bangladesh interim government's law affairs adviser Asif Nazrul in a Facebook post said India's unwarranted concern for Bangladesh continues.
“In India, numerous incidents of brutality on minority Muslim community is going on. But they don’t have any remorse or embarrassment (over those incidents). This double standard of India is condemnable and objectionable,” Nazrul wrote.
Bangladesh’s interim government of Muhammad Yunus urged the country’s journalists to counter “misinformation” in Indian media with “truth”.
Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam said: “We must tell our stories our way else they [Indian media] will set our narrative according to their liking.”
Alam, a former journalist, said in a Facebook post that several Bangladeshi journalists now realised it was time to confront an "industrial scale misinformation campaign" coming from some Indian media outlets and their social media platforms.
His comments came as a group of students staged a demonstration at the Dhaka University campus calling for resisting what they called India's interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs.
They also demanded the extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who had fled to India in August amid massive student-led protests, and a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in Bangladesh.
The students accused India of "border killings", religious persecution and attempts to instigate communal strife in Bangladesh.
They also accused the Indian government of inciting communal tensions in Bangladesh and exploiting religious differences to destabilise the country.
In New Delhi, minister of external affairs S. Jaishankar told Parliament that India has taken a serious note of incidents of violence against minorities in Bangladesh.
"The primary responsibility for the protection of life and liberty of all citizens of Bangladesh, including minorities, rests with the government of Bangladesh," Jaishankar said, adding that the Indian high commission in Dhaka continues to monitor the situation related to minorities in that country "closely".
The minister highlighted incidents of violence since Sheikh Hasina’s forced departure in August, including attacks on temples and puja mandaps during Durga Puja.
The external affairs ministry, in a media briefing, said, “We see Iskcon as a globally well-regarded organisation with a strong record of social service. As far as the arrest of Chinmoy Das is concerned... we hope and expect that these processes will be dealt with in a fair, just and transparent manner.”
Bangladesh’s financial intelligence unit on Friday froze the bank accounts of 17 individuals associated with Iskcon, including the arrested Chinmoy Krishna Das. This move follows a high court decision rejecting a petition to ban Iskcon after a violent clash between Das’s supporters and security forces that left a lawyer dead.
In India, protests erupted, from Bengal to Karnataka. The VHP and Bajrang Dal have launched a two-day nationwide protest, while Iskcon held ‘kirtan’ demonstrations at its centres.
Political voices in India have joined the chorus of condemnation. BJP MP Kangana Ranaut described the conditions in Bangladesh as ‘very unfortunate’ and took a swipe at Muhammad Yunus. “Since he came to power, there has been total unrest in the country,” she remarked.
Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari struck a more aggressive tone. “The people at the Bangladeshi Embassy should be called in and taught a proper lesson,” he said. Adhikari called for a boycott of Bangladesh, urging patriotic citizens to stand united.
The Nawsad Siddique-led Indian Secular Front (ISF) demonstrated outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Calcutta on Friday, protesting the alleged atrocities on minority Hindus in the neighbouring country.
ISF leaders also submitted a deputation at the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in this regard. “We are witnessing the torture of minorities in Bangladesh through the media. We want the interim government there to act immediately. We have submitted a deputation regarding this,” an ISF activist said.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India has consistently and strongly raised with the Bangladeshi government the threats and "targeted attacks" on Hindus and other minorities.
On October 30, a sedition case was filed against 19 people, including Das, at Chattogram's Kotwali Police Station, accusing them of disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag in Chattogram's New Market area during a rally of the Hindu community.
Das, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, was arrested from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday. He was denied bail and sent to jail by a Chattogram court on Tuesday, triggering protests by his supporters.
