At a meeting in Dhaka recently, over 60 minority community leaders from different parts of the country welcomed the absence of Jamaat e Islami from last month's parliamentary election and from the newly formed parliament as well.
The meeting, attended by central committee members of the country’s largest minority platform, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, was called to assess the 12th parliamentary polls and their outcome, said one leader who attended it.
Drawing on past experiences when Jamaat leaders became lawmakers in alliance with the BNP and used their parliamentary speeches to run communal campaigns, they described the outfit staying out of parliament as a renewed cause for “igniting hopes and raising optimism” for a future anchored on “communal harmony."
This has been gathered from several leaders who attended the closed-door meeting where the media was not invited.
Jamaat is disqualified from taking part in any election in Bangladesh after it lost its registration with the Election Commission. BNP, the outfit's key ally, boycotted the vote after the government rejected its demand for holding the polls under a neutral caretaker administration.
In the run-up to the polls, Jamaat waged a simultaneous movement with the BNP, aiming to grab power without polls, including enforcing blockades and running hate campaigns against different communities, including Ahmadiyyas, the meeting observed.
The meeting also noted with dismay that the combine is still clinging to similar demands.
After Jamaat announced to introduce Saariah law if it comes to power, Tarique Rahman, the acting chief, made reported attempts to reach out to it for courting support in the movement for power, the meeting observed.
Several speakers at the meeting expressed concern over a renewed push to solidify the alliance, putting an end to the much-hyped claim that BNP has distanced itself from Jamaat.
The leaders also found the conduct of polls an essential marker for the continuation of the democratic process, and the outcome lived up to the aspirations of minority voters, with large-scale voter participation reported in a free and fair manner.
Ranjan Karmaker, a rights activist who also attended the meeting, said their assessment has been based on an objective analysis of five decades of communal card played by Jamaat and BNP to solidify their grip on power.
He said the call by Tarique to decide the fate of the country on the streets instead of facing ballots was denounced by many of the speakers at the meeting.
They also referred to his historic patronage for rabidly religious militants and bigots like Bangla Bhai and defense to ensure impunity for those communal forces who carried out the largest pogrom against minorities.
It was observed that renewed denial of such crimes is an adequate pointer to what makes the acting BNP chief a threat to secular credentials, added Karmaker, a presidium member of the platform.
Another issue he found alarming was the "extensive use of social media to stoke communal shrills, slurs, and hatred." The downloading of such propaganda from certain accounts on YouTube and Facebook, including Zulkernain Saer, among others, featured prominently, he said.
In reference to an earlier BNP effort to project the condition of minorities as appalling through a letter by six US congressmen, they also commented that “similar efforts to spread false projections against minorities were set in motion after the polls by the combine to mislead the global community.”.
Responding to the claim, D’Rozario said: “From my experience, I can say this statement belies reality. The real situation on the ground is completely different from what has been stated in the letter.”
“Under the current government, Christians have received support; it is safe to say that they have stood by us,” said D’Rozario, who, in 2016, became the first Bangladeshi to be formally inducted into the Roman Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals, an elite body that advises and elects popes.
On poll-induced violence, the meeting pointed out that the 2001 post-poll violence after BNP came to power had by far been the largest violence faced in the country.
In 2001, after assuming power, Zia’s widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, made war criminals as ministers, and even during that tenure (BNP Jamaat combined), witnessed one of the largest state-sponsored pogroms against minorities and progressive forces as around 28000 incidents of communal attacks were recorded by minority groups across the country.
However, BNP and Jamaat members were reportedly found involved in the burning down of a monastery, assault on Hindu voters, and intimidation of women voters in northern villages.
Both the BNP and Jamaat have rejected the allegations as propaganda against them.