Growing tensions between India and Bangladesh They erupted amid accusations of attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, which sparked protests and an attack on the Bangladeshi consulate in India.
Relations between the two countries have soured since August, when a popular movement – now widely known as the “monsoon revolution” – Bangladesh’s ruling prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina has enjoyed years of favor in Delhi, even as her government has resorted to violence and mass corruption to stay in power. When he fled the country in August, with ten thousand protesters heading for his residence, Hasina crossed the border into India, where he remained. Those crimes are crimes against humanity, mass murder and systematic torture Bangladesh.
The collapse of Hasina’s government was widely watched as the defeat of the ambassadors in Indiathe threats that are faced in their borders by God and China. Bangladesh was India’s closest regional partner and the Delhi government in Hasina did little to orchestrate economic and strategic interests.
When he fled, India was accused of trying to subvert the government of a caretaker government led by a Nobel Prize-winning economist. Mohammed Yunuswho seems to be much less bound by the demands of India and has demanded a “rest” of relations.
One of the main shocks in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, has been alleged widespread attacks on the Hindu minority – Bangladesh says claims by Indians have increased for political resources.
“They have spread these rumors in particular countries and powerful players,” Yunus told a gathering of Bangladeshi political parties on Wednesday.
“They are undermining our efforts to build a new Bangladesh and spreading fake stories.”
Tensions further escalated after the arrest of a Hindu monk who was recently expelled from the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as ISKCON or Hare Krishnas.
Chinmoy Krishna Das arrested in rebellion The flag of Bangladesh had been disrespected over the allegations. After being denied bail, he turned to his vehement supporters, and the Muslim accuser was hacked to death. The Hindu group alleged that this had led to violence and intimidation in a few neighborhoods and an attack on a Das defense lawyer who was in a hospital. Das’s bail hearing was postponed this week after no lawyer appeared for him.
Mass protests erupted in India in response, with thousands of Hindu monks marching to the Bangladesh border in West Bengal. On Monday, the Bangladeshi consulate in the Indian state of Tripura was attacked by rioters. The Indian government called the attack “extremely painful” and has increased security at all diplomatic missions in the Bangladeshi region. Dhaka sent an Indian ambassador in response to what it described as a “nefarious attack”.
The Hindu minority in Bangladesh has historically suffered persecution, particularly from Islamist extremist elements, which Hasina has largely kept under her rule.
Yunus acknowledged the attacks on Hindus after the fall of Hasina, but he was politically, not religiously, reprimanded and denied that he was any part of an orchestrated anti-terror campaign. Members of the Hindu community were generally seen as backing Hasina’s Awami League party and, after its collapse, many were caught up in a wave of political violence against their supporters.
Meanwhile, the government has accused India of spreading misinformation about anti-Hindu violence to establish a caretaker government, with right-wing Indian media calling for a “Hindu bloodbath” on the border.
“There is certainly an orchestrated attempt to undermine the interim government led by a 2006 Nobel laureate peace professor. Muhammad Yunus,” Shafiqul Alam said, press secretary to the interim leader. “Some of the Indian media have haphazardly confirmed Sheikh Hasina’s corrupt and inhumane dictatorship for the last 16 years. They seem to be unhappy that Hasina has been ousted from power in a mass popular uprising by the students.”
Alam said that he had invited the Indian media to the village to “find out the true picture. But he doesn’t seem to care about covering the story on the ground.
Analysts in Dhaka said reports of violence against Hindus were being inflated by India, but also criticized the interim government – which many see as ignorant and out of its depth – for overturning the situation and failing to establish law and order.