Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, through a voice vote, after discussion and a reply from Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu.
The Bill provides for regulation and control of the design, manufacture, maintenance, possession, use, operation, sale, export, and import of aircraft and for matters connected therewith.
The new aviation Bill would open new areas of air travel, the minister said during the reply. He said the ministry is looking at the design of seaplanes and helicopters, and the Bill would help us do that.
While introducing the Bill in Parliament on Thursday, the Minister said, the Aircraft Act was brought in 1934 and a lot of amendments have been made over the years. He said previously the amendments were incorporated into the Act several times.
He said these amendments created a lot of ambiguity and contradictions in terms of the functioning of internal organizations like the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). He said The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak has been brought to clear the confusion.
The Bill will help reduce redundancy, the minister said. Also, he said it provided for proper definitions for design, maintenance, and manufacture.
“The 1934 Act which was there, it was amended 21 times. And it was amended in such a way that whenever some new SARP (Standards And Recommended Practices) was coming in, we were just attaching it to the old bill. There was no proper structure,” he said.
During the 41-minute reply, the minister also touched upon the overall civil aviation sector.
He said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the number of airports doubled from 74 in 2014 to 157 airports. Passenger growth in the country during the period grew from 60 million passengers to 153 million. International passengers, he said, rose from 43 million to 66.7 million.
“It’s like any travel industry which took a big hit during the COVID time, aviation also took a big hit. Even though it took a big hit, within three years, it stood back on its feet. It not only crossed the pre-COVID numbers, but we are at an all-time high in passenger growth in the country, and today we stand as the third largest aviation economy in the whole world,” he told the Lok Sabha.
He also spoke about the matter of rising airfare, which was raised by many parliamentarians. He said there are lot of dynamic factors which get included in deciding the fare and the government has no role in this de-regulated space.
“Some important airlines like Jet Airways and other Deccan Airways and some important airways which were very optimistic in the area of civil aviation, they’ve all exited the aviation market,” he said, hinting that shortage of planes has added to the airfare pressure.
“We are thinking of setting up an online mechanism to take in grievances from not just the MPs, from also the public. And we’ll put up a team in the Ministry which is going to specifically look about these issues where they feel undue advantage has been taken or unnecessarily some unreasonable hike has happened in airfares.”
Earlier in July, in the Parliament, the minister attended to many questions related to the exorbitant rise in airfares, delays in flights, and aviation-related infrastructure in the country.
He took note of the questions raised by several parliamentarians on the high airfare, reiterating that his commitment as a minister is to make airfares affordable.
Setting airfare is a market-driven process.
He also apprised the parliament about the aircraft that are currently grounded due to engine issues, which he said caused an additional burden to the overall fleet.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
As a Hindu, especially as a Hindu woman, I harbour no illusions about the rights that I would have in an Islamic nation – nay – even in a small locality where Muslims dominate. I am deeply aware that a Hindu is but an object of humiliation in the land of Islam. I am deeply aware that a Hindu’s options are either to perish or convert. I am also deeply aware that a Hindu woman’s fate in the land of Islam is far more ghastly – I come from a land where warrior queens burnt themselves to death so their dead bodies are not defiled by Islamic invaders. I know. Yet, the unbridled violence in Bangladesh and the subsequent whitewashing of it after the fall of Sheikh Hasina took me by surprise.
The bane of the civilised is that barbarity always comes as a surprise, even though the barbarity is fully expected. I truly believe that the reason why the civilised world clutches on to straws in the hopes that Islam will eventually reveal its peaceful face and that the barbarians only represent a small fraction of the larger Muslim community is because through the lense of morality, such unthinkable barbarism seems like an outlier. “All religions teach peace, it is its adherents who twist it”, the civilised say. They say this because their own faith and the morality which comes with it makes it almost impossible for them to accept reality. It is beyond the realm of their imagination that such savages can exist – let alone be the norm.
But sometimes, the silent part has to be said out loud. It is never pleasant. But it has to be done. The plight of Hindus in Bangladesh after the fall of Sheikh Hasina is not new. It is not the first time that Hindus are being persecuted. The systematic and institutionalised ethnic cleansing of Hindus was inevitable because no Muslim society will stray from their religious doctrine for too long.
Enough has been written and said about the US’ regime change operation in Bangladesh and how Jamaat-e-Islami engineered the fall of Sheikh Hasina. What has not for the attention it truly deserves is the ensuing ethnic cleansing and targeted attacks against Hindus. On the 5th of August 2024, as the rioters, the US establishment and the media celebrated the fall of Sheikh Hasina, a grim reality started dawning on the Hindus of Bangladesh – they were now at the mercy of Jihadis, roaming the streets, itching to hunt them down.
On the 4th of August, the signs that the violence was morphing into a targeted onslaught against Hindus started surfacing after “protestors” stormed Rayganj Press Club in Sirajganj and brutally attacked a Hindu journalist named Pradip Kimar Bhowmik. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.
On the same day, Islamists killed a Hindu politician named Haradhan Roy. He was the councillor of Ward 4 in Rangpur city. Roy’s nephew was also lynched by Islamists.
While the indications were evident on the 4th of August, by the 5th, all hell broke lose. Jihadi mobs started burning homes, molesting and raping women, murdering men, looting Hindu owned businesses and specifically destroying Hindu temples. OpIndia compiled a list of 54 such instances on the 6th of August. This was only the tip of the iceberg.
As the violence progressed, it became abundantly clear that Hindus were facing an existential threat.
“At night, they came. They vandalised our homes and looted everything. We were hiding. They grabbed my brother-in-law’s wife and took her to another room. They raped her. Later, we recovered her; her face was tied with clothes. They wanted to cut her throat. To save her, we gave them all the gold ornaments”, one Hindu woman said.
“We were sleeping. At night, they came. They were armed. They warned us saying, ‘Fifty of us have surrounded your house, there is no way you can escape.’ They looted everything. They grabbed me and took me to bed. They threatened me with murder. I pleaded with them to either spare me or kill me. They kept threatening me not to cry. They asked me to give away whatever valuables we had. I gave them all my ornaments, so they left me,” said another woman.
Other women wailed about their temples being destroyed. In a video, a Hindu women repeatedly cried out, “They destroyed our temple. they destroyed our temple. why did they destroy our temple”.
They have taken everything. They are destroying our Temple.
Throughout the video, she wails about her Temple being destroyed, Gods desecrated, and the attack on Hindus.
“We are helpless, we are helpless, please stand with us, we are helpless”, another sobbed.
This video is from yesterday. It was streamed live on Facebook. She keeps repeating that her temple has been broken. “We are helpless, we are helpless, please stand with us, we are helpless”.. she wails. #BangladeshHinduspic.twitter.com/hWvD1C2Dym
While the videos are endless, the true extent of the carnage in Bangladesh is perhaps never going to be documented – as is the case with all such violence. Almost exactly 3 years ago, when I was reporting from West Bengal and documenting the crimes against Hindus in the aftermath of Mamata Banerjee’s landslide victory in Assembly Polls, there were several stories of targeted violence, unimaginable horrors that would go unreported. This happens for several reasons. The collusion of the administration itself which leads to the non-filing of FIRs, the state actively shutting down media houses, journalists and Hindu groups from reporting the carnage by means of malicious state action, victims refusing the speak up owing to fear of further retribution and women choosing to bear it all because the societal ramifications of speaking up is far too much.
Therefore, to assume that the scale of violence is limited to the stories that have been reported, would be a grave mistake. If three women have come on record to talk about sexual violence against Hindu women, one can assume that the scale is several times more. If there are images of 100 Hindu homes being burnt, one can safely assume that thousands would have been displaced. If one can record 50 Hindus losing their lives, the actual human cost of the violence is far beyond one’s imagination.
But when one speaks to locals and victims of the violence, one can at the very least, understand the nature of the violence being perpetrated.
“They killed one Hindu councillor mercilessly and hung his body upside down in the middle of the road. I don’t think I can express the brutality that was done to him by the Muslim mob. They have killed some Muslim politicians and policemen too, but special kind of torture is being reserved for the Hindus only because they are Hindus”, one local from Bangladesh told me. He was referring to the brutal lynching of Haradhan Roy and his nephew and the lynching of ASI Santosh Saha – Saha was lynched by a mob and then hung upside down in the middle of the road for all to see.
ASI Santosh Saha
“My neighbour runs a Kirana store (department store). They went to his house and burnt his house. They also burnt his shop and robbed inventory worth lakhs. When he tried to protest, they threatened to kill him and rape his wife. They were repeatedly calling him ‘Kafir’ and telling him that if he has a problem with Jamaat-e-Islami, he should go to India. When threatening the women of his house, they said that the women were ‘ganeemat’ (spoils of war). They forcefully took away at least 6 cows. When they were threatening and looting, they said they will not leave even one Hindu alive. We are scared. Our lives are in danger. We don’t know if we will survive. We don’t know whether we should stay here or run away. Nobody is giving us any help. I am requesting you to help us. Please save us”, he said further. He said that they were also threatened to not talk about their persecution by the mob of 20.
He told us that most Hindus were hiding in their homes or wherever they had fled after the violence. They were not venturing out because they would certainly be attacked after being identified as Hindus.
I asked him about the help, if any, being extended by the local Hindus organisations of the area in which he resides. I was told that the Puja committee heads and other leaders of Hindu organisations also had to flee or remain in hiding because of the targeted violence. I was later told that just as the fall of Sheikh Hasina became apparent, Jamaat-e-Islami started preparing a hitlist of Hindu leaders, organisations, businesses and houses to target.
I then asked why the police were not protecting the Hindus. “All the police officers have abandoned their posts. There are no police officers anywhere in Bangladesh. They were being targeted by Jamaat people and many of them were killed, so they have abandoned their posts. With all the police gone, the mobs are freely targeting Hindus”, he said. He said they could call the Army but the Hindus were scared. First, those living in the outskirts and not in proper cities were too far away for the army to reach on time. Second, a large swath of the army itself is sympathetic to the Jamaat and therefore, nobody was sure if they would help the Hindus or persecute them further.
A local Awami League Hindu politician also said that the Army and the Police were nowhere to be found and they had no protection. His only plea was for India to accept the Bangladeshi Hindus – so those who want to seek refuge are able to do so.
A Hindu Puja committee chairperson said that Hindus in his area were living in terror. “We hardly have food to eat. Who do we go to? Who do we ask for help? There is nobody there for us”, he said. He said a 650 year old ancient Temple was destroyed by the Jihadi mob – it now lies in ruins. “Every Hindu Sampradaya is now living in terror after these attacks. I am not being able to leave my village. They are attacking Hindus houses in my locality as well”. I asked him for a picture of the temple which lay in ruins – he said that if he leaves the house he will be lynched. He could send it to me later if he survives the onslaught.
The temple, before it was burnt to rubble, looked like this.
Another local Hindus who detailed his ordeal to me said that his own house along with the house of his neighour had been burnt down by the Islamist mob. He too, like some other Hindus, said that several cows were stolen from the stable of his neighbour and some were burnt.
It is pertinent to note that there there was another case which was reported by local Bangladeshi Hindus where cows were found burnt during the violence.
Miscreants set fire to the house of Amiya Singh, a resident of Quisharpar, Barigaon village of Comilla district, Bangladesh at 1 am. Their cattle shed was completely gutted in the fire and two cows were burnt to death.07-08-2024#SaveBangladeshiHindus#AllEyesOnBangladeshiHinduspic.twitter.com/MFpTIQ7Q1O
Jihadis harbour special kind of disdain for the cow because Hindus revere the animal as their mother. The targeting of the cow, specifically, has religious undertones which is hard to miss.
“There is no ‘bahini’ to give us any protection. There are a lot of numbers that we have but everyone is scared for their lives. Even if they come, they will take so long that we will be dead by then. My uncle has a medicine shop and his shop has completely been looted and destroyed. All Hindu shops are specifically being targeted. Please stand with us. We want to survive. We want to live. Our request is please save us. Give us refuge. The border security will not let us enter India but please give us refuge. Save the Hindus from Bangladesh”, he said.
He further said if there are any army personnel around while a Hindu is being targeted, they would first outright deny that the Hindu person was being persecuted. They would look at the Hindu and say that they were exaggerating and absolutely nothing as such had happened to them. They would then abuse them using religiously charged slurs as well. “The army would say that nothing has happened to you and you are wasting our time by complaining. They call us Kafirs constantly. They say that our property is their ‘ganeemat’ and that our women are ‘jayaz'”, he said. He further said that many Islamists from the Jamaat and other average Muslims are telling Hindus that they might be saved if they chant, “La Ilaha Illallah Muhammad Rasulullah. We have also been told that if we can’t protect ourselves, we should leave for India”.
‘Hospitals refusing to treat Hindu patients’
According to the local Hindu organisation leader I spoke to, several hospitals in Bangladesh which are refusing to treat Hindu patients after they have been violently and some grievously attacked by Muslim mobs. “These hospitals are refusing treatment to Hindu victims. If you are Hindu, we won’t treat you. They say that it is their right to refuse service to Hindus. There are many who have died because they were attacked grievously and when they reached the hospital, they were not given treatment”, he said.
When the violence had just started, the same local Hindu leader had said that Jamaat-e-Islami men had made hit lists of Hindus, their establishments and organisations. He had also said that Muslim mobs were roaming the streets with weapons to ensure that they could attack any Hindu they see. Hindus were, therefore, trapped in their homes because of the mobs on the streets. “Everyone you have spoken to has suffered loss. Either their homes have been burnt, or they have lost someone they know. This country will finish us. We will not be left. In the next few years, no Hindu will be left in this country after what is happening now”, he said.
“This is our land. We were born here. This is our janmabhoomi. Why would we want to leave? But we are being called Kafirs. They are killing us and hanging us on the streets. Our women are being raped. Our brothers are being attacked. How do we stay here? Doctors are refusing to treat us. Nobody wants to leave, but what do we do? Where do we go?”, he narrates, with a painful concoction of hurt and anger in his voice. He knew personally of Hindus who had been denied treatment in the Sherpur district of Bangladesh. “We are not obligated to treat Hindus, I was told, when I spoke to the hospital in the Sherpur district. I guarantee you, after Mohammad Yunus takes oath, you will soon here that the killings have increased. This will not stop”.
According to local Hindus, at least 30 women have been raped since the violence started. This is an extremely conservative estimate because these are only the cases they have been able to trace. The rapes that they have been able to trace have been from Pirojpur district Rayer Khati region, Brahman Kathi region, Baju Khati region, Comilla District Boroigao, Dinajpur, Jalkhada, Naokhali, Pabna and a few others. The Bangladesh local media has reported that over 232 people have been killed after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. How many of them are Hindus, is anyone’s guess. This too, is an extremely conservative number according to Hindu locals. As many as 29 Awami League leaders have been murdered after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. The locals who spoke to me have also said that conservatively, over 50 Hindus have died because they were refused treatment by hospitals owing to their religious identity.
There are several testimonies of women talking about their persecution.
a woman was heard saying, “They came and looted our house. They took away our money, gold and whatever valuable that was left with us. They also abducted my 14-year-old boy.”“I don’t even know their identity. They vandalised our house and took everything away. They also beat us severely,” she narrated while breaking down in tears.
Another Hindu woman narrated how her family was targeted overnight by Islamist mobs. She stated that her 15-year-old brother was assaulted at knifepoint. They also stole stole 3 lakh from the family.
“Look how they have vandalised our houses…Is this the work of a human? They are claiming that this is an independent country now. See what they have done to my underage brother,” she narrated the ordeal.
“It’s a curse to be a Sanatani in Bangladesh. I, as a student, am asking why my house is being targeted,” the Hindu woman continued. She pointed out that 3-4 other Hindu houses were attacked in a similar fashion.
“Who will give us justice? Who is there to protect us Hindus? Today, they are attacking me. Tomorrow, they will attack you. If we do not stand up to it now, then, we will not be able to survive tomorrow.”
Another woman said that Muslims had threatened her and her family to flee Bangladesh overnight.
— Voice of Bangladeshi Hindus ?? (@VoiceofHindu71) August 8, 2024
Another testimony claimed that 6 Madrasa students took responsibility for guarding the house of a Hindu and on that pretext, gang-raped a young Hindu girl.
The locals told me that one of the calls to action by the Jihadi mobs was that all those police officers and government employees who wear a ‘red thread’ need to be burnt alive. A red thread is a religious symbol is worn around the wrist by Hindus. “This chant was being given since the first week of July, what is happening now is only an implementation of their plan”, he said.
“Most of these students who spearheaded this protest are related to Jamaat and Shibir. This protest was to ensure they take over power. It had very little to do with quotas”, I was told by multiple Hindus. “They never wanted a democratic country. They wanted an Islamic nation. One of their slogans during the protest was ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram, Sheikh Haseenar Baaper Naam’ (Hare Krishna Hare Raam is Sheikh Hasina’s father’s name). Why would they say this if it was not anti-Hindu?”.
Despite the mounting evidence, the media has attempted to summarily deny the persecution of Hindus. The New York Times downplayed the ongoing genocide by calling it ‘revenge attacks’ against Hindus.
And this is just an example of the whitewashing of a genocide. There are several other instances where the media took it upon themselves to shield the Jamaat and throw the Hindus under the bus. They simply dismissed the ongoing genocide as attacks against Awami League supporters.
The Bangladeshi Hindu fears that the Mohammad Yunus government is going to spell doom for the Hindu minority of the Islamic nation is not completely misplaced. On Thursday, 8th August, Prof Muhammad Yunus assumed the office of Bangladesh forming the interim government.
Notably, the newly formed interim government consists of 17 members including Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed; Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, the former election commissioner of Bangladesh; Dr. Md Nazrul Islam, a law professor; Adilur Rahman Khan, a human rights activist; AF Hassan Ariff, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh; Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Chief Executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association among others.
Who is Dr AFM Khalid Hossain?
However, one of the shocking names that have been included in the list of interim ministers is that of Islamist Abul Fayez Muhammad Khalid Hossain, popularly known as Dr AFM Khalid Hossain. Hossain has been the vice president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh and is currently associated with the Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic organization. The Hefazat-e-Islami is a hardline Islamist organization, whose members have been accused of persecuting Hindus in the past.
As per the local reports, Dr AFM Khalid Hossain is a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar and an international Islamic speaker. He along with several other leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam has a history of influencing the Muslims against the Sheikh Hasina-led government and its ties with India.
He is a former vice-president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, an editor of the periodical At-Tawheed, and assistant editor of Balagh al-Sharq. He served as the professor and chairman of the Department of Islamic History and Culture at Omargani MES College, as well as the central president of the Islami Chhatra Samaj, the Nizam-e-Islam Party’s student branch.
Hefazat-e-Islam was founded in Chittagong in January 2010 by Islamist Ahmad Shafi aiming to ‘safeguard’ Islam from claimed anti-Islamic initiatives. The Islamist group also aimed at abolishing secularism and propagating hard-core Islamic beliefs.
In March 2021 when PM Modi was visiting Bangladesh, massive protests were organized and managed by Hefazat-e-Islam, leading to violence and chaos across the country. Chittagong and Brahmanbaria, in the country’s east, suffered damage to government offices and property. The violence continued even after Modi’s departure when a train and several Hindu temples were attacked in Brahmanbaria. Hefazat-e-Islamist members chanted ‘action, action, direct action’ in an ominous development. It is pertinent to mention that Jinnah’s call for ‘Direct Action’ led to the genocide of Bengali Hindus in 1946.
The violent protests, which claimed the lives of many Hindus, were viewed as a danger not just to the government’s legitimacy, but also to bilateral relations with India. The incident resulted in the arrest of hundreds of members and supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam.
It is important to note that several leaders associated with Hafazat-e-Islam are at present also spreading hatred against the Hindus amid the ongoing Bangladesh political crisis. Even during the ongoing violence, Islamists from this group incited violence against Hindus.
Pertinently, even during the ongoing violence against Hindus, the Jihadi mobs have called Hindus the “Dalals of India” and have asked them to “go to India”. With the interim government itself harbouring such animosity towards Hindus and India (of whom they are viewed as agents), the fear of Bangladeshi Hindus that they are now essentially orphans and the genocide would only get worse under the current dispensation, is not misplaced.
Prime Minister Modi on the 8th of August took to X to call specifically for the protection of Hindus.
On the 9th of August, Home Minister Amit Shah posted about the Modi govt forming a committee to monitor the ongoing situation along the India- Bangladesh border. The committee would also hold discussions to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living in Bangladesh.
While the Indian government is setting up a committee to monitor the situation at the borders, news emerged that 300 Hindus had travelled to the Indian border, hoping to get refuge in India.
West Bengal: Hindus in Bangladesh are attempting to seek refuge in India amid the turmoil. About 300 Bangladeshis gathered at a border point near India's Jalpaiguri district pic.twitter.com/IHFe2vu3UT
With no political decision yet on the plight of Hindus, it is expected that BSF would not allow these Hindus to enter India.
As the Hindus are being massacred and India hasn’t decided yet about whether they would be accepting refugees, there are Islamic “scholars” who are celebrating the genocide of Hindus.
Abu Najm Fernando bin al-Iskandar who lives in the United States claims to be a PhD student specialising in “Islamic studies” and defines himself as an “indigenous Muslim.”
After the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the commencement of the anti-Hindu violence, he tweeted his excitement over the devastating developments, advocating for the complete annihilation of Hindus from the country. In his own words, the fact that three of the four schools of jurisprudence for ‘Ahl as-Sunnah’ (traditions and practices of Prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow) hold that Hindus should only have two options, embrace Islam or die, provides him with “great solace.”
He added, “Hindus should be grateful they’re dealing with Hanafis and not Malikis, Shafi’ees, or Hanbalis,” he mocked while taking the names of Sunni Islamic schools of thought, insinuating that they are far more violent and hostile towards non-Muslims and would have treated vulnerable Hindus in Bangladesh with greater brutality.
He quoted Islamic law from the Hanbali school of jurisprudence, the predominant Sunni school in Saudi Arabia and Qatar which stated, “Thus, due to this, distinguishing themselves from the Muslims in their hair is required of them (i.e., non-Muslims under a covenant of protection) by shaving the front part of their heads and shearing their hair while not parting it due the fact that the Prophet Muhammad parted his hair,” to demonstrate how infidels should be met with humiliating treatment as they are inferior to Muslims.
He also showed his ‘generosity’ by assuring that he has no problem with Hindus who, while residing in Muslim nations, accept their subservient position, and abandon their faith which he called “shirk” (idolatry, polytheism and association with Allah) and live per Islamic laws and regulations. He further hoped that “Bangladesh gets cleaned of Hindu influence and meddling,” while referring to the attacks on Bangladeshi minorities as “Hindu propaganda.”
Through the past 4 days, the Bangladeshi Hindus have not particularly asked for much. All they have really asked is to be saved. Saved from the barbarians. Saved from the animals. From the savages who are committing their genocide and destroying their temples. While they get massacred, they are trying to survive and shield their faith from the mobs.
This video perhaps epitomises the plight of Hindus. We would be remiss to not make parallels to the times when Hindus buried their Gods to protect them from the invading barbarians so future generations could rescue the faith – if they survived.
Hindus are under attack. Serious, serious attack. Might I add, it is an ongoing genocide. A genocide is not defined by numbers but by the intent to wipe out a people owing to their identity. Hindus have never been tolerated by Islamic societies. Rape, torture, persecution, beheadings, and the denial of basic fundamental rights have been the order of the day. Bangladeshi Hindus have been regularly attacked, but this time, the nature of violence is far more institutionalized, since the Jamaat is now running the country (and we use that term loosely).
Every Hindu I spoke to told me they fear the worst. They told me that if not today, in a couple of years they will be wiped out because Bangladesh is now on its path to becoming Taliban-esque. They fear that Yunus would be terrible for Hindus since he is in bed with the Jamaat.
I have refrained from calling on the Indian government to do something immediately because I know that is not how nations can function. We can’t exactly take the military and waltz into Bangladesh. But there has to be something we can do. Since 2019, my only criticism of CAA was that it had a pesky cut-off date. I would hope that the Government of India would simply say that CAA has no cut-off date anymore and that Bharat, the natural home for Hindus, will accept all its children when they need to come back – when the world seems too cruel. Hindus need a right to return.
Hindus need to know that their mother’s lap is waiting for her children. Will the government do it? I don’t know. Honestly, I doubt it. It took us 3 years to notify CAA after bloody anti-Hindu riots – violence direction against Hindus based on utter, damn lies. Do I hope they do it? Yes. I do. I pray they do.
Bangladesh Hindus need to be rescued. They need to be helped. They are being massacred and they need us. We can’t open the borders because it would be a repeat of 1947. God knows we don’t need more Bangladeshi Muslims in this country. God knows we don’t need more Jihadis. But the Hindus need us. Desperately. I don’t have answers. But I know I voted for a government that I hope would have the answers. If I had all the answers I would be running the government.
All I do know is that Bangladeshi Hindus needs us. All I do know is that we cannot claim to stand for Hindus, believe in Hindutva, and be worthy of the sacrifices of our ancestors if we don’t save our fellow Hindus. Rescuing them is our generational responsibility. It is our Dharma. And those who step back from their Dharma are not only doomed but have to suffer the burden of damnation from those who repose their faith in us today. The Nehru-Liaquat pact has soaked this land with the blood of Hindus. It is time to make things right.
If we don’t. If we can’t. We will never be forgiven. The burden of knowing that we watched as our brothers and sisters got massacred will never leave us. The Gods are watching. Our ancestors are watching. They are waiting for us to be worthy. Will we rise to the occasion? I don’t know. I pray we do.
On 9th August, a serial killer identified as Kuldeep Gangwar was arrested by authorities in Uttar Pradesh. He murdered at least nine women between the same age group in the Shahi and Sheeshgarh areas of the Bareilly district. He is a resident of Bakaragnj Samuha village in the Nawabganj police station area. He reportedly has mental health issues. His wife left him due to his antics which infuriated him and he started killing females. He claimed the lives of nine women within fourteen months.
He was married to Longshree of Bhanpur village, ten years ago. She left him and took another man as her husband due to his odd behaviour. He developed an intense hatred for women afterwards. He frequently visited his aunt’s (father’s sister) house in Sabzipur Khata village in the Shahi region. He killed the females in a serial manner due to his aversion to the latter. He was taken into custody after a probe. Several police units led him to the crime locations and reenacted the murder scenes after which he was brought to Bareilly.
The women, who were between the ages of 40 and 65, were killed in the nearby police station areas of Shahi, Sheeshgarh, and Shergarh. There were no indications of a sexual assault, but the victims in each case were discovered in sugarcane fields with dishevelled clothes. The majority of the women were strangled to death with their sarees, which was another recurring theme in the killings. Three incidents occurred in June of last year, all within a brief period followed by one murder each in July, August and October, two in November and the latest instance in July of this year. The victims were killed in hamlets within the jurisdiction of two police stations, within a 25-kilometre radius.
“Our teams have been investigating this case for six months and have not ruled out the possibility of a serial killer due to the nearly identical modus operandi of the murders. Based on some leads, we have now released sketches of three suspects,” Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar earlier told media. “The pattern is clear – strangulation around noon, bodies dumped in farms, and post-mortem ruling out sexual assault. Our investigations, including electronic surveillance, have hit a dead end,” Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anurag Arya informed in a previous statement. The women were urged to move in groups for their safety by the village chief. Notably, the perpetrator has now been nabbed by the cops.
The first murder was recorded in June 2023, and the most recent victim was a 45-year-old woman who was discovered dead on 3rd July. The killings persisted, and by November there had been eight confirmed deaths, following a seven-month break after which the trend resurfaced this year.
What is a serial killer?
A criminal who kills two or more people without a reason over an extended period of time is known as a serial killer. Psychological pleasure is the primary driver behind the murders committed by a serial killer. The majority of serial killers exhibit consistency in the kinds of victims they target and the manner in which they carry out their killings. Since independence, India has had many serial murders. The most recent was Ravinder Kumar, who was captured in July 2015 after raping and killing a six-year-old child. Afterwards, Ravinder Kumar acknowledged that over the course of eight years, he had raped and killed at least thirty additional children in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The “vivid and accurate” details of these crimes that he remembered, had shocked investigators. He was awarded life-term by Delhi’s Rohini court. “Among the crimes, he confessed to was the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hathras in 2013. In that case, Ravinder described the exact location and date on which he had committed the crime. When I called the Hathras police, they confirmed the details, and said the girl’s father was currently under trial for the rape-murder,” revealed an official.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar challenged the college’s ban on hijab, questioning why the prohibition had not been applied to other religious markers like tilak and bindi.
“Female students should have the freedom to choose their attire, and the college cannot impose restrictions on them,” the bench remarked to the college administration, which is at the centre of a new controversy over a dress code for Muslim students. “Unfortunately, you’ve suddenly realised the presence of many religions in the country,” they added.
Justice Kumar further questioned, “Can you forbid someone from wearing a tilak? Is this not included in your guidelines?” according to Live Law.
The Supreme Court was reviewing a petition that contested a Bombay High Court ruling from June, which declined to overturn the college’s decision to enforce the ban.
The background of the controversy
The challenge was brought by nine female students in their second and third years of a science degree program, arguing that the college’s directive infringed on their fundamental rights, including the right to practice their religion, the right to privacy, and the right to personal choice.
The controversy began on May 1 when the Chembur Trombay Education Society’s NG Acharya & DK Marathe College issued a notice in its official WhatsApp group, which included both faculty members and students. The notice detailed a dress code that prohibited the wearing of hijab, niqab, burqa, caps, badges, and stoles on campus. The petitioners argued that this directive was issued without any legal authority, rendering it “invalid, null, and void.”
The students first approached the college management and the principal, requesting that the restrictions on hijab, niqab, and burqa be lifted, citing their rights to choice, dignity, and privacy in the classroom. When their requests were disregarded, they escalated the issue to the chancellor and vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, as well as the University Grants Commission, seeking intervention to ensure that education was provided without discrimination. After receiving no response, the students filed a petition with the Bombay High Court.
During the high court hearing, the petitioners’ advocate, Altaf Khan, referenced Quranic verses to argue that wearing a hijab is an essential part of Islam. The petition described the college’s action as “arbitrary, unreasonable, legally flawed, and perverse.”
The college management defended the ban, claiming it was a measure to enforce a uniform dress code and maintain discipline, with no intention of discriminating against the Muslim community. Senior counsel Anil Anturkar, representing the college, asserted that the dress code applied to students of all religions and castes.
On Friday, 9th August, a new shocking video of the attack on a Hindu in Bangladesh emerged. A video shared by journalist Aditya Raj Kaul on social media showed the pain of a Hindu identified as Bimal Chandra Dey who recorded the arson attack at his own automobile shop.
As per the video, Dey owned a bike shop named ‘City Bike Centre’ in Comilla, Bangladesh which was set ablaze by Islamists yesterday amid the ongoing political crisis in Bangladesh.
“Has anyone seen that your dreams have been shattered in front of your eyes? I am seeing that. I am seeing how my future is being destroyed. My workplace is burned. I worked yesterday here, in my shop and now it has been destroyed,” Dey could be heard saying in the video.
The shop is believed to have been burned by the Islamists on the Vishwa Road in Comilla, Bangladesh.
“Heartwrenching. Bangladesh-based Bike Showroom owner Minority Hindu Bimal Chandra Dey records this heartbreaking video after an Islamist mob set ablaze his ‘City Bike Centre’ in Comilla of Bangladesh. Dreams shattered. Life comes to a standstill. This is how Hindus suffer,” the journalist said commenting on the video.
Heartwrenching. Bangladesh based Bike Showroom owner Minority Hindu Bimal Chandra Dey records this heartbreaking video after an Islamist mob set ablaze his ‘City Bike Centre’ in Comilla of Bangladesh.
Hindus in Bangladesh are facing constant attacks at the hands of Islamists after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government in the country. Islamists have left no stone unturned to target Hindu homes, businesses and temples. Several similar incidents have been reported by OpIndia exposing the pain that the Hindus in the country are forced to suffer.
On 9th August, a video went viral on the social media which a woman could be heard saying, “They came and looted our house. They took away our money, gold, and whatever valuable that was left with us. They also abducted my 14-year-old boy. I don’t even know their identity. They vandalized our house and took everything away. They also beat us severely.” The woman could be seen continuously crying in the video.
— Voice Of Bangladeshi Hindus ?? (@hindu8789) August 8, 2024
In another Facebook video, one Hindu woman narrated how her family was targeted overnight by Islamist mobs. She stated that her 15-year-old brother was assaulted at knifepoint. They also stole Tk 3 lakh from the family.
“Look how they have vandalized our houses…Is this the work of a human? They are claiming that this is an independent country now. See what they have done to my underage brother,” she narrated the ordeal.
“It’s a curse to be a Sanatani in Bangladesh. I, as a student, am asking why my house is being targeted,” the Hindu woman continued. She pointed out that 3-4 other Hindu houses were attacked in a similar fashion.
“Who will give us justice? Who is there to protect us Hindus? Today, they are attacking me. Tomorrow, they will attack you. If we do not stand up to it now, then, we will not be able to survive tomorrow.”
On 7th August, a video showed Islamists breaking new benchmarks for savagery and hatred towards Hindus. In the video, Islamists could be seen encircling a dead victim lying on the ground. There was a pool of blood beneath the deceased man’s broken head, and his hands were bound in handcuffs. Many men were gathered around him. With the aid of a stick, one man, whose face cannot be seen in the video, strips the deceased person naked and checks the victim’s private part for circumcision. Shouting ‘Hindu, Hindu’ over the corpse, the crowd hovering over the dead body laughs, realizing that the man is a Hindu because he is not circumcised.
On 5th August, it came to light that Jihadis attacked Hindus’ houses, shops and temples in Bangladesh in the guise of protests against the Sheikh Hasina government. Despite the resignation by Hasina from the Prime Minister’s post, the protests continued and so did the attack on Hindus. Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar has also expressed concerns over attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. Earlier, OpIndia reported about the list of 54 attacks released by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and attacks reported by The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper. Several videos and photos of attacks on Hindus surfaced on social media.
As the day passed by, more details of the attacks with photos and videos surfaced. Apart from the 54 attacks reported earlier, by today, OpIndia has detailed 11 more incidents of targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh after the coup against Sheikh Hasina.Details of Islamist attacks against minority Hindus in Bangladesh can be read here.
In a major development, the Modi government has formed a committee to not only monitor the situation at the India-Bangladesh border but also ensure the safety of Hindus and other religious minorities in the neighbouring country.
In a tweet on Friday (9th August), Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed, “In the wake of the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, the Modi government has constituted a committee to monitor the current situation on the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB).”
“The committee will maintain communication channels with their counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, Hindus, and other minority communities living there,” he emphasised.
In the wake of the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, the Modi government has constituted a committee to monitor the current situation on the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB). The committee will maintain communication channels with their counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to ensure…
The committee will be led by the ADG of Border Security Force (Eastern Command).
On Thursday (8th August), PM Modi highlighted the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and called for their protection by the newly formed caretaker government.
“My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumption of his new responsibilities. We hope for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities,” he stated.
My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumption of his new responsibilities. We hope for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities. India remains committed to working with Bangladesh to fulfill the…
“India remains committed to working with Bangladesh to fulfill the shared aspirations of both our peoples for peace, security and development,” PM Modi emphasised.
OpIndia has documented cases of atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh by Islamists masquerading as ‘pro-demcoracy, anti-quota and anti-government’ protestors.
On Friday (9th August), Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar came down heavily on Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan for accusing him of disrespecting her and criticising his allegedly “unacceptable” tone.
” I, Jaya Amitabh Bachchan, would like to highlight that as an artist, I understand body language and expressions. But your tone is not right. You may be sitting on the Chair and we are your colleagues, but your tone is unacceptable,” Bachchan said.
Dhankhar responded by telling Bachchan that she should understand the necessity of maintaining decorum, even if she is an actress and a celebrity. However, Dhankhar grew angry as opposition members rallied around the actor-politician and protested against him.
“Jaya ji you have earned a great reputation. You know an actor is subject to the director. But every day, I do not want to repeat myself. Every day, I don’t want to do schooling. You are talking about my tone? Enough of it. You may be anybody. You have to understand the decorum. You can be a celebrity but accept decorum,” the Rajya Sabha chairman told Jaya Bachchan.
He also added: “Never carry an impression that only you build reputations.”
On Friday (9th August), the opposition walked out of Rajya Sabha following a heated argument with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar over BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari’s “parivarwad” comments about Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge. Congress MPs requested an apology from Tiwari, but Dhankhar stated that the matter had been settled personally with the leaders.
While the opposition leaders were walking out, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar lashed out at Kharge and said, “I know you want to destabilise the entire nation. You are out to create chaos in the House. Nothing else is going on record. I won’t be a party to this House being converted as an epicentre of disturbance. You are determined to have your way at the cost of the Constitution. You are doing it. It is a lack of disrespect and decorum for democracy. Disrespect to the constitution,” Dhankhar said.
The Vice President further slammed the Kharge and other opposition leaders for walking out of the House and said,” You are walking away from your obligations. You are walking away from your duty. Honourable members, they don’t want to participate. They know only how to create chaos…The nation is a priority…”
After the opposition MPs from the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar called it a “sad day”.
Notably, BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari had recently attacked Kharge by saying that his “entire family was involved in politics”, however, Kharge pointed out that he is a first-generation politician. He thus, demanded that Tiwari’s comments be expunged. In response to this, VP Dhankhar had assured Kharge that the “parivarwad” remarks would be expunged from the record.
However, today, the opposition leaders created a ruckus and demanded an apology from Tiwari. On Friday, Dhankhar informed the House that he privately spoke to Kharge and Tiwari to address the issue. He added that Tiwari assured him to apologise to Kharge if he crossed the boundary. “Mr Tiwari told me he is prepared to apologise if he transgressed any boundary. He, instead, embellished the reputation of Mr. Kharge,” Dhankhar said.
On 8th August, a British zoologist who collaborated with Sir David Attenborough was sentenced to ten years and five months in prison with a non-parole period of six years after he admitted to raping, torturing and killing dozens of dogs. Adam Britton, who previously submitted documentaries to the BBC and National Geographic, entered a guilty plea to 56 counts of animal cruelty and bestiality as well as four counts of obtaining and disseminating information about child abuse. He admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material.
The 53-year-old filmed himself abusing the animals until nearly all of them died and he later posted the recordings online using fictitious names, according to the Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court. Years passed while his abuse stayed unreported until one of his movies revealed a clue. His misdeeds were discovered owing to an anonymous tip to the authorities. An investigation of Britton’s rural Darwin residence in April 2022 turned up evidence of child abuse on his laptop, leading to his arrest. Additionally, he is prohibited from owning animals on his land for the rest of his life. However, the restriction only applies while he remains in the region. Since his arrest, Britton has been held at the Darwin Correctional Center on remand.
Chief Justice Michael Grant cautioned the courtroom that many of the details of Britton’s crimes are too explicit to disclose because they are very “grotesque” and could cause “nervous shock.” A few audience members hurried outside when the case details were read aloud. Others in the gallery sobbed and muttered derogatory remarks at Britton. Occasionally, he was spotted hanging his head and grabbing tissues. Judge Grant described the perpetrator as “devious” and stated that it was “sickeningly evident” that Britton had “unalloyed pleasure” in hurting the animals.
He declared, “Your depravity falls entirely outside any ordinary human conception,” and added, “Although I’m loathe to do so, given the gross depravity and perversity of your actions, it is necessary for sentencing you to provide some generally representative detail and description of the offending conduct.” Britton killed 39 dogs in a shipping container he called his “torture room” on his rural property on the outskirts of Darwin where he shot his inhumane acts and tortured around 42 canines. According to testimony given in court, Britton purchased the dogs online between 2020 and 2022. Reluctantly, owing to job or travel commitments, many owners handed over the pets, believing they had been adopted.
Chief Justice Michael Grant informed Britton that his actions “involved a degree of depravity and reprehensibility which falls entirely outside any ordinary human conception and comprehension” when he announced the sentence of 10 years and five months in Darwin’s court. He highlighted, “The sheer deviance and brutality of your conduct are not satisfactorily encompassed by the bare description that you killed each animal. You used weapons extensively in the course of your activity – including knives, wooden clubs, pliers, bolt cutters, hacksaws and axes.”
“You took photographs of the dogs prior to torturing and killing them, and subsequently sent those photographs to the former owners as part of communicating false narratives that the dogs were thriving in their new environment,” he mentioned. Britton shared footage of his killings on the free messaging app Telegram, where he went by the aliases “Monster” and “Cerberus” and talked about his abhorrent acts. According to Justice Grant, Britton encouraged violence through his conversations with other Telegram users, and it was “manifestly clear” that he got “perverse pleasure and excitement from the suffering of these animals.”
“I have no emotional bond to them, they are toys pure and simple,” Britton told online followers under his alias, about his images of beaten dogs and puppies, “and plenty more where they came from.” According to the police, Britton used to put dogs and puppies in the “torture room” he had rigged up in a shipping container close to his rural Darwin house while his wife was gone on field excursions. He would record himself raping the dogs there and then thrash them to death. Having promised their prior owners he would give them a “good home,” he received the majority of the forty-two animals he mistreated for free through the online selling site Gumtree.
“Your modus operandi was one of devious and careful premeditation and planning, the individuals from whom you procured these dogs thought they were going to a good home and that they would be protected. You took videos of the grotesque harm you were inflicting on these animals, you revisited those videos for your own sexual gratification and you shared them for the gratification of other deviants. The fact that you staged each of these remorseless killings as a production further reinforces the meticulous level of your planning,” the judge pointed out.
He and his wife owned two dogs, Swiss Shepherds named Bolt and Ursa, who he assaulted. ‘Monster’ sent a note that was included in the case which read, ‘I started fence jumping when I was 13 or 14 and molesting horses.’ Judge Grant stated that he feared Britton was “likely to commit a further offence in respect of an animal and that risk will continue to present unless you are subjected to anti-libidinal treatment and effective psychotherapy.”
“I’m less ready to accept that you are genuinely remorseful, that is particularly so having regard to the sheer delight you took in the torture of these animals and the persistence of your conduct. And what appears to be your continuing view that sexual interactions with animals short of sadism isn’t harmful,” the judge noted.
He left a message in an online chat forum that was produced in court which read, Britton “was sadistic as a child to animals, but I had repressed it. In the last few years, I let it out again, and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to. :).” A letter from him apologizing for his “demeaning crimes” was read aloud. “I take full responsibility for the demeaning crimes that I perpetrated on dogs. I deeply regret the pain and trauma that I caused to innocent animals and consequently to my family, friends and members of the community that I affected. I now acknowledge that I’ve been fighting a rare paraphilic disorder for much of my life and that shame and fear prevented me from seeking the proper help I needed.”
“No amount of words can convey how sorry and ashamed I am,” he continued, vowing to pursue “long-term treatment” in order to find “redemption.” The letter requested, “Please give my family the time and space they need to heal, they were not aware of or involved in any way.” According to his Facebook page, Britton was born in West Yorkshire, studied zoology at the University of Leeds, and then pursued a PhD in biological science at the University of Bristol. He later resided in Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory. He relocated to Australia over two decades ago to work with crocodiles.
Police searched his rural farm and discovered dog heads, sex toys, firearms, laptops and decaying puppy corpses. Widespread indignation over the tragedy has led to calls for tougher laws and background checks for those who work with animals.
The propaganda wings of Islamists are burning the midnight oil to whitewash the unspeakable atrocities being committed by Islamist mobs against Hindus in Bangladesh. On the 8th of August, the Qatar-funded propaganda portal Al Jazeera attempted to pass off the communally motivated attacks on Hindus as an act of political revenge. While denying the ongoing Hinduphobia as false, the publication then went on to claim that India media houses reporting the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh is Islamophobic and Alarmist.
Al Jazeera published an articletitled “Islamophobic, alarmist’: How some India outlets covered Bangladesh crisis” by Faisal Mahmud and Saqib Sarker on 8th August. Invoking ‘Islamophobia’ is the most reliable and effective tactic of Islamist pens for hire to downplay the crimes of Islamist terrorism against non-Muslims and guilt-trip people questioning or criticising Islamists.
The article claimed that Times Group’s Mirror Now ran misleading news that 24 were burnt alive by a mob and “minorities at the centre of attacks” to insinuate that Hindus have been burnt alive. However, the said video report neither claimed that all those killed were Hindus nor did it claim that only Hindus were being attacked across the country.
While the Al Jazeera report claims that only two people have been killed since Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, media reports including reports by Bangladesh media show that many more Hindus have been killed. Moreover, entire Hindu villages are being attacked, leading to hundreds of Hindus trying to enter India.
The Qatar-funded Islamist propaganda outlet, further alleged that several other Indian media reports made “outlandish claims” by quoting some Indian politicians and Muslim student bodies expressing their concerns and apprehensions regarding the unrest in Bangladesh. Exposing its admiration for Islamists, Al Jazeera also targeted the Times of India for its report saying that Jamaat-e-Islami, the biggest Islamist party of Bangladesh “brought down Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh”.
While Al Jazeera insinuated that somehow Jamaat-e-Islami had nothing to do with the ongoing violence in Bangladesh, their involvement in exploiting the anti-quota protests to oust the Sheikh Hasina-led government is widely reported. In fact, both, Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), notorious for their anti-India and extremist views, hijacked the anti-quota protests, using them to undermine the Awami League government. As their supporters joined the fray, the student-led movement was transformed into a larger anti-government campaign.
Notably, initially the anti-quota protestors and the Sheikh Hasina govt were on the same side, and the protest was essentially against a High Court order. The govt had actually abolished 30% for families of freedom fighters, but the High Court restored that quota, leading to protests by the students. Hasina govt had appealed against the order at the Supreme Court, and the student groups also filed similar appeals. But within days, other elements like Jamaat-e-Islami infiltrated the protests, leading to widespread violence.
This is why the protests continued even after the Supreme Court quashed the High Court order, and removed other reservations too, bringing it down to just 7% from 56%. It is by now clear that anti-quota protestors didn’t result in the fall of the Sheikh Hasina govt, it was the movement hijacked by Islamists groups in the country.
After invoking the “Islamophobia”, the Al Jazeera propaganda piece also attempted to hand a clean chit to Pakistan’s ISI which has allegedly been involved in fuelling anti-Hasina protests by backing BNP and JeI to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic nation. It is not too difficult to understand that no intelligence agency jumps and claims credit for such regime change operations if they are involved in it. The claims of the involvement of ISI and even the US in Sheikh Hasina’s ouster are not completely unsubstantiated since Hasina had repeatedly raised alarms that the US and other foreign elements were conspiring to oust her government and even carve out a separate country.
OpIndia reported how Pakistani social media handles had fueled this social unrest in Bangladesh and how it amplified fake news and anti-government propaganda shared by notorious Bangladeshi handles. Recently, Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy also alleged ISI’s involvement in Bangladesh unrest and said, “I am quite certain given the circumstantial evidence; I suspect Pakistan ISI’s involvement. The attacks and protests were very coordinated, meticulously planned, and intentional efforts to keep inflaming the situation through social media. No matter what the government did to control the situation, they kept trying to worsen it.”
Hindus attacked for political affiliations, not religious identity: Al-Jazeera joins New York Times in whitewashing the Islamist crimes against Hindus
While Hindus across Bangladesh are being attacked, their houses being plundered, and temples being vandalised, Al Jazeera attempted to whitewash the communal angle in the ongoing anti-Hindu pogrom by claiming that only those Hindus associated with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League are being targeted. Al Jazeera’s disdain for Hindus has reached such an extent that to defend Islamists, the propaganda outlet resorted to demonising Hindu victims.
Quoting a random car driver Mustafizur, the article claimed that Hindus were ‘bullying’ others when Awami League was in power so now they are facing the backlash.
The Islamist propaganda outlet quoted Gobind Chandra Pramanik, who served as general secretary of Bangladesh National Hindu Mahajot but was removed from his post, to back its false claim that only Hindus with Awami League connections are being attacked not the rest. It is pertinent to note that Gobind Chandra Pramanik was recently removed from his post by the Mahajot after he made false claims that Hindus were not attacked and their temples were not vandalised after PM Hasina’s ouster.
Evidently, Al Jazeera is quoting a person notorious for making false statements and also having pro-BNP views, to whitewash Islamist atrocities against Hindus since Hindu names add more impact and give the impression that “see, the Hindu leader himself is saying Hindus were not attacked”.
Notably, the New York Timeshad recently changed the headline of one of its published news reportsafter facing severe backlash from readers. Earlier, the headline read “Hindus in Bangladesh Face Revenge Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit” which attracted heavy criticism on social media. Though the title has been changed to “Hindus in Bangladesh Face Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit”, the content remained the same, pushing the narrative that Hindus were being targeted as they supported Hasina’s political party and not because of communal reasons.
Similarly, Meenakshi Ganguly, the Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch resorted to whitewashing the crimes against Hindus being committed by Islamists saying that it is due to political reasons and not hatred against Hindus.
OpIndia has reported numerous verified incidents of target attacks by Muslim mobs on Hindu temples and Hindu houses. While there have been incidents wherein the mob targeted Hindu leaders of the Awami League, the attacks are not confined to political rivalries or revenge. While attacks on Hindu temples itself make it evident since temples don’t have any political affiliation but are simply the abode of Hindu deities, Hindus regardless of their political leanings have been singled out and attacked.
Speaking to OpIndia, several Bangladeshi Hindus said that Jamaat-e-Islami members have been making a list of Hindu businesses and Hindu houses since the fall of Sheikh Hasina. In one of the most horrifying incidents, Islamists encircled a dead victim lying on the ground while several men were gathered around the deceased. With the aid of a stick, one of the Islamists strips the deceased person naked and checks the victim’s private part for circumcision. The happiness of the Islamist had no bounds and he started shouting ‘Hindu, Hindu’ over the corpse, the crowd hovering over the dead body laughed, realising that the man was a Hindu because he was not circumcised. Probably, Al-Jazeera would come up with an argument that Islamists were checking the deceased man’s private part to determine his political affiliation.
Al-Jazeera peddles “human chain” style lies to peddle the ‘Hindus are safe in Bangladesh’ narrative
Much like the “Muslims forming human to protect Hindu temples” claims made by AltNews’s Mohammed Zubair and others in India to defend the murderous actions of Bangladeshi Islamists, Al Jazeera also claimed that Muslims were protecting Hindu houses in Brahmanbaria, a Hindu majority area. “News of Bangladeshi students, including from religious schools, volunteering to protect Hindu temples have been reported locally since the unrest began, and it has been picked up by outlets like Clarion India and The Wire,” the article reads.
In one same article, Al-Jazeera went from Hindus not being targeted for religious identity to Muslims protecting Hindu houses in an area with large Hindu populations. Most importantly, even if we assume they are protecting Hindu houses, then from whom are protecting them? Islamists or aliens?
Al-Jazeera drags BJP-Hindutva into anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh, equates the situation of Bangladeshi Hindus with Indian minorities
Quoting the cheerleaders of Islamists—the left-liberals—in India including leftist propaganda portal TheWire’s founder editor Siddharth Varadrajan, the Al Jazeera propaganda piece authored by Faisal Mahmud and Saqib Sarker, asserted that the Indian media is exaggerating the anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh and using them to “boost anti-Muslim rhetoric “in service of the BJP and [its ideological parent] RSS’s agenda.”
“For them, the ouster of Hasina is an Islamist conspiracy hatched in collaboration with Pakistan and China and the target is India and Hindus,” Varadrajan said.
While ISI’s hand is suspected to be behind fueling violence in Bangladesh, the BJP-RSS or its supporters have largely and rightly blamed the local Islamist mobs for violence against Hindus. Moreover, much like the concern voiced by World Hindu Federation (Bangladesh)’s secretary General in conversation with OpIndia, that “if Bangladesh becomes a Hindu-free and Islamic-extremist country, India will be the biggest sufferer”, the Hindus here are concerned about Bangladeshi Hindus and the impact the neighbouring country’s unrest will have on India.
Meanwhile, Naresh Fernandez, the editor of the leftist propaganda portal Scroll dragged Hindutva into the context to claim that Hindutva supporters are peddling their conspiracy theories and fantasies including the hand of foreign elements in regime change operations in Bangladesh and potential replication of the same in India. Fernandez said that some of the concerns raised by Hindutva supporters are legitimate but they fail to show the same concern for Indian minorities as Hindus are walking on streets with lethal weapons and carrying out target killings of Muslims and other minority groups just as in Bangladesh.
Notably, OpIndia recently reported how Scroll defended targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh by calling it the ‘inevitable aftermath of uprising’ and even blaming ‘Hindutva’ alongside claiming the Hindu victims were ‘Awami League supporters’.
By describing the anti-Hindu violence as solely political, propaganda outlets like Al-Jazeera downplay the fundamental religious hatred of BNP and JeI supporting Islamists that underpin these attacks. The targeted destruction of Hindu temples and the assault on Hindus are unmistakable signs of religious persecution, and any attempt to dismiss or mischaracterise these actions as purely political does a disservice to the victims and the greater understanding of the unrest prevailing. However, that’s exactly what Al-Jazeera wants to do, they are using ‘Islamophobia’ as a tool to prevent Hindus and others worldwide from speaking about the ongoing genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh.
World Hindu Federation (Bangladesh) Secretary General trashes Al Jazeera propaganda
Speaking to OpIndia, Dipan Mitra, the secretary general of the World Hindu Federation (Bangladesh Chapter) said that Islamist sympathising media outlets like Al-Jazeera misleading their readers. When asked about Al Jazeera’s claim that only those Hindus who had connections with the Awami League were targeted, Mitra said that this was “totally wrong”. “Those attacked are 99 percent Hindus, till now, even on yesterday night, they [Muslim mobs] torched Hindu houses, looted their properties, and burned their shops even in Dhaka,” he said.
Furthermore, debunking the “Muslims protecting Hindu temples” claims, Mitra told us that if it was actually the case, then why are temples across the country being vandalised? “It is just a stunt. They take photos near Hindu temples, publish them [on social media] and leave. This is just an eyewash for global leaders and people worldwide that oh, see, even Muslims are protecting Hindu temples. But this is totally wrong.
Speaking about Bangladeshi author Aupam Debasis Roy’s claim that the numbers regarding attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh are being overblown and that the country is not being taken over by Islamist forces, Mitra said these sort of ‘intellectuals’ are maybe taking “facilities and support” from Jamaat-e-Islami to speak in favour of them. They [Jamaat] find such people and provide them financial support and other support since most people will believe their lies if a Hindu author or writer says it to spread their propaganda.
On being asked about leftist-Islamist propaganda portals dismissing the allegations of ISI’s involvement in fomenting unrest in Bangladesh, the WHF (Bangladesh) leader said that the answer to this lies in the fact that “just yesterday Mohammed Yunus who is going to lead the interim government in Bangladesh said that if Bangladesh becomes unstable, India’s “seven sisters” and West Bengal will not be safe. I ask them why. I believe it. I believe that ISI is behind the turmoil in Bangladesh.”
He further pointed out that the opposition parties and political leaders like Mohammed Yunus who always opposed Sheikh Hasina, backed the anti-India campaigns. He added that these parties never support or see India as a friendly country, rather they see India more as an enemy. Mitra also told OpIndia that Mohammed Yunus is a pro-US leader and might act like the US’s puppet.
