Shiban Khaibri
shibankhaibri@gmail.com
” Ingratitude is monstrous , and for the multitude
to be ungrateful, were to make a monster of the multitude…” (Shakespeare)
What we are watching happening in our neighbourhood, Bangladesh, which was a part of this country until only a few decades ago, reminds us of the truth and relevance of the above quote of the greatest English dramatist and poet. The role of India in 1971 liberation war of the ”oppressed and suppressed ” Bangla people at the hands of West Pakistan rulers and lords and the sacrifices of our valiant armed forces coupled with Indian people bearing the extreme brunt of millions of refugees from Bangladesh for months together who had crossed over to this side to save life and honour as also Indian citizens paying extra taxes only to sustain and support an independent Banglasdesh , cannot, by any measure, be underestimated, least trivialised and never allowed to be forgotten , never on earth permitted to be repaid by hostility , rancour and malevolence towards this country . The anti India tirade , pawning policies and systems with the Pakistani establishment , the same Pakistan that let loose a reign of terror , genocide and destruction against the Bangla people in 1971 , mooting close defence and commercial understandings with Pakistan etc and implementing their anti India design from their soil and the like, is brazen and naked ingratitude towards this country. Ingratitude of an extreme order, an established fact, breeds wickedness and wickedness raises its ugly head in multifaceted forms . That is what is currently happening in Bangladesh. Communal frenzy and minority hatred coupled with committing of heinous and barbaric acts against the main largest minority community members is totally inhuman and, therefore , unacceptable while it is increasingly reprehensible too .
If the interim government headed by Mohammad Yunus does not arrange to stop it forthwith and Bangladesh started behaving like a normal civilized nation where life , property and honour of Hindus were safe and constitutionally guaranteed and highly radicalised and bigoted elements ruthlessly dealt with , the consequences could be irreversibly precarious and could travel beyond the confines of Bangladesh.
Let the other side of the face be seen in that if the reasons of Bangladesh (the erstwhile East Pakistan) getting separated from this country in 1947 were to be delved into, that would provide a broader answer to the reasons of what has been happening in and thus ailing Bangladesh especially after forcibly throwing out of power , a duly elected government led by Sheikh Haseena. Her fault was not of any bad governance, not of any maladministration, nor any high inflation, never high levels of unemployment , not in the least levels of poverty etc but ,perhaps, only that she was not brazenly radical and was not openly encouraging and supporting the radical elements in furthering their agenda of ”cleansing” Bangladesh of the minority Hindu population. Interim ruler Yunus is pathetically seen not only supporting and encouraging the jungle rule of the frenzied fanatic elements who run riot unbridled but impliedly is tactfully trivialising the extent of their barbarism , if not openly justifying . Just imagine the same pattern, the same trend in Pakistan – “cleansing ” of and decimating the Hindu population or more conveniently and softly using the term “minorities”. To bring home the point, in 1948 there were 22. 07% Hindus of the total population living in Pakistan which figure now is reduced to an abysmally less than 2%, precisely 1.6%. Likewise in Bangladesh , a Hindu population comprising nearly 30% in 1948 is now reduced to 7.95% as per the census of 2022 and as on date it is feared to be further down. Where have millions of these Hindus gone is perhaps troubling none, especially those whose heart beats stop when it is the issue of Gaza but not when it is the question of Hindus. Once Bangladesh was known as world’s third largest Hindu populated country after India and Nepal.
On the contrary, in India , in 1948 a Muslim population comprising 3 crore is as on date reported to be 23 crore but a prominent Congress leader accounts for the reasons of persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh as “Action and Reaction”. In other words and in simple parlance , innocent Hindu Dipu Dass’s macabre killing , savagely repeatedly hitting the body when it was lifeless and then setting it ablaze by rampaging mob by tying it with a tree and video graphing it , is a “reaction ” to some imaginary action here in India (albeit Muslim minority) as believed by Digvijay Singh of Congress. How much unfortunate , how much unwarranted, how much travesty with the truth and how much applying more than double standards when it is the question of a Hindu whether in Bangladesh , or in Kashmir, or in Pakistan . Newer modes and arguments are invented in this country by a peculiar branded ”secular” lobby to keep its vote bank ”more secured”. What about the “Mohabbat ki Dukaan”, it gets flopped when it is the question of Hindus.
It is because of such political antagonism in India on account of pursuing cheap politics that spirits of such lumpen frenzied elements within or outside get emboldened . Perhaps, that speaks for yet another Hindu Amrit Mondal alias Samrat getting lynched by a fanatic mob on December 24 in Bangladesh’s Rajbari district after Dipu Dass’s barbaric killing and burning. More Hindu houses being torched makes no news. ”Action Reaction ” theory and similar perverted motives peddled under a design , thus, get fully exposed , rubbished and treated contemptuously.
Another “secular ” leader of the Congress , Rashid Alvi fully backs the above claim of his senior comrade and further says that in India too, there is the government of “Kattar Panthies” like in Bangladesh . So, a democratically constitutionally elected government , in the view of the said ”secular” Congress leader, is comprising ”Kattar Panthies” or fundamentalists. What an analogy , what a type of drawing parallels, what a comparison and yet claiming that dissent and freedom of speech are curbed . Another Congress leader Robert Vadra is having a view totally different as he vouches for discussing ”real issues” facing this country and not ”about Bangladeshi Hindus”. About Anti India Bangladeshi activist Osman Haldi’s killing also, wild speculations were set spinning , however, the brother of the deceased activist Sharif Omar Haldi has accused a ”vested quarter within the Mohammad Yunus led interim government of orchestrating the killing of his brother to derail the February 2026 polls.” Facing series of poll debacles , so called ludicrous and imaginary ”vote chori” narrative notwithstanding , Congress has specialised in conducting political post-mortem of various events taking place by peddling peculiar versions like about operation Sindoor where Congress leader Pritviraj Chauhan claimed “We were completely defeated on the very first day, and Indian aircraft were shot down and the Air Force grounded ….” To lend legitimacy to his claim , he refused to apologise . Can anyone call it as doing any service to the cause , to the glory of India, to the valour and high professionalism of those valiant members of our armed forces who took part in the most successful operation?
Even during Khalida Zia’s tenure as PM of Bangladesh twice, she had reportedly regretted over sporadic killings of Hindus and Buddhists . Whatever the reasons for removing Sheikh Haseena from power, the main question arises as to why should Hindus living there be targeted and persecuted. Hindus are original inhabitants of that country and Bangladesh by becoming an Islamic Republic , the status of these Hindus should , on the contrary , be more secured, increasingly guaranteed of their basic rights including right to faith and legally constitutionally and administratively provided all protection. Further, having the evil dream about the ”Chicken’s Neck” should be stopped , that habit otherwise could progress into deep convulsions and hallucinations with the treatment similar to 1971 which ,therefore, means living like a normal peaceful and civilized neighbour and pursue the principles of peaceful co-existence among the people. Meanwhile ,the central government must take all diplomatic and other measures to ensure Bangladesh government dealt ruthlessly with lumpen and frenzied elements.
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