Title:  Minority muzzled in Bangladesh 
Author: Priyadarshi Dutta
Publication: The Rediff On the Net
Date: Nov 3, 2001
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives1/secon3.asp?cat=\edit4&d=EDITS&fdnam=nov301

An analysis of the census shows that nearly three million Hindus have fled Bangladesh between 1974 and 1991 at the rate of 1,73,375 a year and 475 each day. Salam Azad, a young Dhaka-based scholar has cited five factors for the Hindu community deserting the country in his 150-page book Hindu Sampraday Keno Bangladesh Tag Korche (Why are the Hindus migrating from Bangaldesh) published this year. They are-communal harassment, orchestrated communal violence, enemy/abandoned property Act, take over of religious property and discrimination against Hindus in government services. 

The Hindus of Bangladesh live in constant terror of losing their lives, property and worst of all the honour of their women folk. Many Hindus have abandoned using their surnames fearing identification; Hindu women have given up using vermilion on their forehead and taken to burqas. Cow slaughter (ironically of cows smuggled in from West Bengal with active connivance of the Communists and TMC) is ubiquitous. The commonly available fat used in food is synthesised from cow fat, it being economical. Hindu houses are often smeared with cow's blood and scenes of miscreants eating beef atop the Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka are not uncommon. 

Before Partition, nearly 80 per cent of the national wealth and more than 85 per cent of urban property belonged to the Hindus. The zamindari system was abolished only in the eastern wing of erstwhile Pakistan merely to grab the land of landed Hindus. The population of Hindus in East Bengal had steadily declined from over 25 per cent immediately after Partition to below 10 per cent now. It is ironical that the part of Bengal that had produced illustrious intellectual giants, scientists and revolutionaries now register a literary rate of merely 25 per cent. The streets of Dhaka are dilapidated on which one-sixth of its denizens pull rickshaws. 

Bangladesh, surrounded on three sides by India, is a major security threat. As against 10 million Hindu-Muslim refugees that trooped across to India during the Bangladesh liberation war, the count of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators has passed the 20 million mark now. This is an encroachment on the sovereignty of India. Though we dole out the waters of the Ganga to them, Bangladesh has never considered India's proposal of allowing a corridor through its territory. 

It is India's obligation to stand up for the Bangladeshi Hindus who are victims of the nefarious power games of 1947. Let us be honest and admit that all Hindus would have to leave Bangladesh (or proselytised) within the next twenty years. Ultimately no minority community can claim permanent safety in any Islamic country. Like the Nehru-Liaquat Ali and Nehru-Noon Pacts, trying to extract any assurance of safety from any Bangladeshi Government is impractical. After all, even secular governments have failed to arrest the communal mindset of the Bangladeshi masses. Ten million Hindus exist without true political representation under Khaleda Zia's reign. 

We need to repatriate 10 million Hindus, ideally with a land strip carved out from Bangladesh called Bango-bhumi, that would merge with India. We need to arm twist Bangladesh by stopping all food smuggled into that country. All illegal Bangladeshis in India must be repatriated. The Ganga Water Treaty signed between India and Bangaldesh should be tactfully abrogated at the earliest. 

Had it not been for Chaitanya Mahaprahu, all of Bengal would have become Islamic. Had it not been for Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the entire territory of Bengal would have been a part of Pakistan. It would be suicidal for us to disown their legacy to appease communal wolves whose agenda is to perpetuate the destruction of civilisations.