Sedition case against 18 Hindus in Bangladesh over saffron flags show communal rot

Eighteen Hindus have been charged with sedition over hoisting of a saffron flag, exposing the selective targeting of minorities in Bangladesh about which even former US President Donald Trump has spoken about. Two people have been arrested. The case seems to be one of retribution, coming at a time Hindu organisations held a large gathering in Chattogram seeking a law and tribunal for the protection of minorities.

A sedition case, experts from Bangladesh told India Today Digital, wouldn’t have been lodged without approval from officials of the home ministry of Bangladesh. The officer in-charge of a police station wouldn’t have gone ahead on his own in such cases, they said.

Other than the 18 Hindus who have been charged with sedition, the complaint mentions 15-20 unidentified people, leaving scope for adding names in the case at a later date.

The incident over which the sedition case has been filed is from October 25, when Hindu organisations held a massive rally in Chattogram to press for their eight-point demand. The eight point demand includes forming a tribunal to prosecute those who oppress minorities, bringing a law on minority protection, and establishing a ministry for minorities.

“A section of people in Bangladesh have tried to project the eight-point demand as one backed by the Awami League and the Indian government,” Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, one of those charged with sedition and President of Pundarik Dham, tells India Today Digital.

He adds that the protests aren’t political and not against the Bangladesh government, but to put pressure on the administration to work to preserve minority rights.

Communal sentiment has been prevalent in Bangladesh, and the population of Hindus has gone down from 22% in 1951 (then East Pakistan) to below 8% now. Between 1964 and 2013, over 11 million Hindus fled Bangladesh due to religious persecution, according to the Hindu American Foundation.

The sedition case was filed by Firoz Khan at Chattogram’s Kotwali Police Station on October 30. According to Bangladesh’s Penal Code of 1860, sedition can lead to imprisonment for up to life.

In a video of the incident, which has gone viral now, a group of people with saffron headbands can be seen putting up saffron flags near a flag that was projected as Bangladesh’s national flag at Zero Point in the New Market area of Chattogram.

“The Sanatani organisations had nothing to do with the saffron flags being put up. The incident took place 2 km from the Lal Dighi protest site,” Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, one of those charged with sedition and President of Pundarik Dham, tells India Today Digital.

“I was not connected to the case in any way. I was at the local BNP office at the time of the incident,” adds Das.

Chattogram’s Pundarik Dham is one of the two holiest pilgrimage places for Hindus in Bangladesh. Das is also the spokesperson for the Sanatan Jagaran Mancha.

“The sedition case was filed on the night of October 31 by a local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),” says Das, adding that the BNP top leadership wasn’t aware of it.

“I heard that I would be arrested too, but action might be delayed with protests taking place across Bangladesh, demanding the sedition case be withdrawn,” according to Das, who was known as Chandan Kumar Dhar before taking diksha (an initiation ceremony).

The Hindu leader of Bangladesh says that the case is fallacious on many counts.

“First, the flag that has been branded as Bangladesh’s national flag has four crescents and stars on four corners and is an Islamist flag. Second, the so-called national flag had been flown flouting flag rules. Third, the saffron flags were raised on separate poles,” Das tells India Today Digital.

The sedition case comes even as Donald Trump criticised the silence even as Hindus faced attacks in Bangladesh.

“I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos,” Trump tweeted.

Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too have been highlighting the need to safeguard the interests of Hindus, by the Bangladeshi establishment.

Sanatani leader Das says Hindu organisations in Bangladesh start their programmes by hoisting the Bangladesh national flag and singing the national anthem.

“The bigger question is why are law-abiding citizens who respect the national symbols targeted, while those who talk about changing the flag and anthem roam free,” asks Das.

The government of caretaker Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus and the main parties of Bangladesh need to urgently answer this one question.