You know how it is to grow up with a Hindu surname in Bangladesh -- all my life I was asked as to why “we worship idols.” Indeed, why? No wonder our answers failed to cater to their curiosity, hence the never-ending attacks on the idols of Hindu Gods and deities.
A few days back, in a Dhaka Tribune news article about the latest incident of Durga idol being demolished in Barisal, a man commented: “The criminals are the idolaters, not the ones who vandalized it. In an Islamic country as Bangladesh, they should not have the audacity to worship idols despite knowing that it is impermissible in Islam.”
I read the comment, but on account of the fact that my religious sentiments are not allowed to be hurt, I chose to shut my eyes to it. Why wouldn’t I, after-all the government and the law enforcement of my country did so long ago.
Last year the Durga puja festivities dissipated into terror and torment. I believe many of the incidents of violence were not even reported and chronicled, yet Durga puja 2021 has to be officially one of the most appalling events in history for Hindus in Bangladesh. Those who suffered in Chittagong, Comilla, Chandpur, Feni, and Rangpur are still reeling from the shock and vehemence of the repeated events of communal violence during their most significant religious festival. What Hindus pay for venerating idols is too big a price compared to the non-existent privileges they enjoy as minorities in this country.
I was under the impression that, after the nightmares of 2021, the government and the police force would beef up security around temples and Hindu localities. But the year 2022 again greeted us with violent celebrations by “unknown miscreants” almost from the beginning.
In March, unidentified miscreants vandalized the idol of a Hindu God at a temple in Faridpur in the wee hours of night. Well, the passionate attacks on Hindu idols had just begun though; in July, over a controversial Facebook post by a young Hindu man named Akash Saha from Digholia village, a group of attackers took the Hindu localities and temples in Narail by storm.
Akash was arrested for hurting religious sentiments -- which I understand -- but what about our sentiments that are hurt routinely and very casually on social media, in everyday life, at our workplaces and other institutions?
In the beginning of July, at least two temples were vandalized in Gaibandha. This attack took place even before the Narail incident; so what had triggered the assailants this time I know not, nor do the police, the reports suggest.
As Autumn leisurely crawls into the weather and pious Hindus start preparing for Durga puja festivities, an assembled group of people also keep their fingers crossed every year. The potters spend sleepless nights kneading the clay and moulding them into shapes while some silhouettes at night barge into the temples to desecrate those idols.
This is how they inaugurate Durga puja in Bangladesh. And we watch as they happen -- shocked, silent -- because how dare we forget we are not licensed to have our own religious sentiments being oppressed in this country?
Durga puja is called “Sarbajanin” (for all people) for a reason. Regrettably, the assailants of the Kashipur Sarbajanin Durga temple in Barisal’s Mehendiganj upazila failed to perceive the essence of it. They broke into the temples in silence at the dead of night and left the broken idols as a testament to their cowardice. The UNO and the Mehdiganj Police OC referred to this act of violence as a part of a political conspiracy between two parties. Fair enough, the political leaders’ blame game goes strong at the price of Hindu idols’ demolition, that still does not change.
Before the Barisal incident in September, August too was heated with a series of similar incidents of temple vandalism. A temple in Phulbari upazila of Kurigram was nearly destroyed over a land dispute and, to my knowledge, no legal step was taken against the perpetrators. Another Durga temple in a village of Manikganj was found vandalized in August, and the police are yet to disinter the invisible hands that pulled the crime off so flawlessly.
Interestingly enough, in July, a man was detained in another village of Manikganj for desecrating an idol at a local temple. His neighbours testified to the police that he was mentally unstable and the vandalism was “not carried off out of any ill intention.” Sound familiar? The perpetrator caught on the CCTV footage in the last year Comilla communal violence incident was also claimed to be insane. No wonder the Hindus do not seek justice in the fell clutch of circumstances here in Bangladesh.
I hopelessly skim through newspapers and read about how temples and idols all over the country are often knocked down by “unidentified persons” -- the question remains the same though: Why does it take impossible efforts to identify their names when we have super efficient law enforcement (as per the government’s claim)? Or who are protecting, rooting for these criminals in the guise of civilians?
Communal violence is little about religiousness and a lot more about power practice of the majority over the minorities. Religious autonomy is something we are yet to get acquainted with, but the practice of religion is a personal act and, as long as the idea is not incorporated into the fabric of our society, religious hatred will continue to outspread love and harmony amongst our communities.
In the past, a number of names of political leaders from the ruling party had come up. They were accused of being directly involved in the events of communal turbulence. It is quite evident that Hindus are no longer considered to be a reserve vote bank for any of the leading parties, therefore, protecting their basic rights has become a voluntary duty instead of an obligatory one for the current establishment as well as the law enforcement.
Having said that, the consistent drop in the Hindu population in Bangladesh is another blatant truth that most of us turn a blind eye to. The Hindu population in Bangladesh has dropped by 7.5 million over the last 50 years. Rest assured, they did not flee their country, leave their goods and chattels and voluntarily choose to start from scratch all over again in a different country -- it is years of existential fear stoked through systematic and religious discrimination.
It is still not the vandalism that messes with my optimism, it is the silence -- that of the bigshot politicians, civil society members, journalists, artists, and, most significantly, the civilians.
When the extremists bring down the minorities in a country, it calls for the righteous to speak out and stand with them. I wish more people came out and acknowledged this vicious circle of religious intolerance in Bangladesh. I wish more people would remind the supporters of these heinous acts of vandalism of the fact that Bangladesh is not an Islamist country, rather a secular one as it was founded.
There will always be differences in beliefs and opinions, things and practices, it is simply inappropriate for one to expect that one would shepherd the world as per one’s own values. Idolatry is a very personal religious practice of a community in a sovereign country and it requires no further seal of approval from individuals or other religious groups as long as no harm is done. One does not have the authority to get in the way of others performing their religious festivities. In layman’s terms we call it “minding your own business.”
To sum it up, I look at these repeated attacks on Bangladeshi Hindu temples and the demolition of idols as consequences of a series of unsettled issues: A gap in understanding between the communities, lack of progressive education, lack of exemplary punishment for the perpetrators, and, needless to say, the tumultuous political milieu of South Asia inclusive of Bangladesh.
South Asia’s religion-based politics has leveraged its minority populations as important pawns in their bigger schemes of power politics, well before Partition. Therefore, Hindus in Bangladesh are not strategically supported by any major groups.
But let’s not, at least, act indifferent to this vulgar practice of power, let’s not stop holding the wrong ones accountable for their mistreatment, and let’s not feed into such theories that tell us the acts of communal violence are isolated and not pre-planned.
However, Durga puja is almost here and the continuous incidents of vandalism scream of its arrival. Perhaps the only silver lining to witnessing this sinister period of time?
Sharbani Datta works at Dhaka Tribune's Editorial and Op-Ed department.