As it often happened in the country’s history, political unrest results in violence against non-Muslim communities.
by Massimo Introvigne
World media covered the political crisis in Bangladesh, which led Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to leave her post and flee the country. Some mentioned the violence against Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Almost no Western media, however, covered the story of riots against Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian communities by Muslim extremists that took advantage of the political instability. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported dozens of attacks against places of worship and educational institutions of religious minorities starting on August 5.
One group especially targeted was ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.
An Indian newspaper reported that Chinmoy Krishnan Das, the President of ISKCON Pundarik Dham in Chittagong, is seriously worried about the protection of Hindu temples. He has stated that calls for assistance to both the police and Rapid Action Battalion in Chittagong have been ignored, with reports indicating that security personnel have abandoned the area dressed as civilians. According to the same source (which has been criticized in the past for its anti-Muslim bias), Chinmoy Das stated that “Three temples in Chittagong are under threat, but the Hindu community, along with some members of the Muslim community, have protected them so far. Many Hindus and other minorities are feeling unsafe and are fleeing to India through West Bengal and Tripura.”
On the other hand, most media in the area covered the attack against the ISKCON facility in Meherpur on August 5. Reportedly, a bomb was thrown in and the flat rented by ISKCON caught fire. Some statues of the deities were damaged. Happily, three devotees who were in the building managed to escape through a back door.
ISKCON, which has been targeted before in Bangladesh, is keeping a low profile. Devotees told “Bitter Winter” that they are extremely cautious in discussing the riots, because comments on social media and elsewhere normally generate more hostility and violence.
Official press releases insist that ISKCON devotees are “loyal citizens of Bangladesh” and believe the crisis may be resolved through dialogue and prayer.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
