Helpless Bangla Hindus Are Hoping Against Hope That Modi Will Do An Indira

I received a call from a well-known journalist in Chittagong. A socially well-connected man, he had organised a huge Hindu-Buddhist procession in Chittagong the previous day.

About two decades ago, I went with him to meet centenarian Binod Bihari Chowdhury, the last living revolutionary from the famous Chittagong Armory Raid of 1930, who remained in Chittagong after the partition. Though most of his comrades fled to India he did not. He and the journalist said, “This is our homeland. Why should we leave?”

Binod Bihari is no more, but the journalist who called me said: “I can't stay in this country anymore. At least, I have decided to send my son immediately to India.”

A senior organiser of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Parishad said the same thing on the phone. He said many storms had passed all these years, but he had never thought of leaving the country. This was the first time he had to consider leaving. But where can he go after leaving the country? The Indian government has closed the borders.

I am writing about the time when Durga Puja had just started in Bangladesh. As in past years, attacks on the celebrations had already begun, with renewed intensity after the 'second liberation.' There have been incidents of breaking idols, vandalising mandaps, and extorting money from puja committees. From bans on declaring Durga Puja as a public festival to restrictions on playing music — especially dhak — many obstacles are being created to harass the devotees and organisers. 

A few years ago, prominent Bangladeshi scientist and writer Zafar Iqbal wrote on his Facebook wall that this is why his anxiety increases a lot when the time of Durga Puja comes. After the so-called student movement in Bangladesh last July and Sheikh Hasina's departure and fall of the government on 5 August, an unprecedented attack on religious minorities in Bangladesh has begun. Not only are religious institutions being attacked, but Hindu professors, teachers, and government employees are also being forcibly dismissed from their positions. 

On 26 September, in a speech at the annual conference of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, the chief advisor of the interim government of Bangladesh, Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, said without any hesitation that this 'revolution' of Bangladesh was well thought out and pre-planned. Mafuz Abdullah, the mastermind behind this pre-planning, was brought on stage and introduced to the audience. Mafuz Abdullah is a well-known Islamic organiser.

Left-wing human rights activists proclaim what is happening in Bangladesh is an internal matter, we should not react. Central and state leaders of the right-wing national party also prefer to remain silent. In this anarchy and religious tyranny, what should we do if minorities, refugees under the definition of the United Nations, want to escape to India? This is not a theoretical argument. 

On the big screen of television, and the small screen of social media, we have all seen hundreds of refugees standing in the river bordering India and Bangladesh. They want to live and seek refuge in India. But the government of India has closed the border and Indian border guards are chasing away the refugees at gunpoint. At least two refugees died in their firing. The refugees and many of us felt the absence of an Indira Gandhi at the helm of affairs in India. Maybe it would have been different if there was someone like her today.

Let’s look back to Bangladesh's ‘first’ independence in 1971. It started with the first general election of Pakistan, i.e. in East and West Pakistan. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a majority of seats and was supposed to lead Pakistan. The Pakistani army and West Pakistanis did not like that. This resulted in a civil war between East and West. To solve this problem, Pakistani army rule was imposed in East Pakistan. The Hindu community had no special role in this East-West conflict. But in Pakistan's mind, the real source of this conspiracy against the Islamic state was the existence of a Hindu society in East Pakistan. To wipe out this Hindu society completely, the Pakistani army started one of the most brutal massacres in the history of the world. 

An example is enough. More than 10,000 Hindus were killed in one day on 20 May 1971 in Chuknagar, Khulna, by the Pakistani army. There is a common saying in Bangladesh, and it is said in songs and poems, that we won freedom by sacrificing 25 lakh lives in our freedom struggle. This is not exactly true. Almost all of these 25 lakh victims were Hindus, none of them went to any war or organised any resistance. They were massacred by the Pakistani Army in cold blood just because they were Hindus.

Naturally, as a result of this brutal persecution, almost the entire Hindu community of East Pakistan tried to seek refuge in India. At that time the Prime Minister of India was Indira Gandhi. She did not close the border like the present Indian government. India has a tradition of giving safe shelter to the persecuted — Jews, Persians, and Tibetans have been given safe shelter in this country.

At the time of Partition, all the leaders promised that India would give shelter to persecuted Hindus fleeing Islamic Pakistan. Indira Gandhi followed the tradition by sheltering the refugees pouring in through open borders. According to estimates by the government of India, about 10 million people (9,899,275 people) took shelter in camps and private houses. Only five per cent of them were Muslim, mainly Awami League and progressive people. India's population was around 55 crore then. This means Indira Gandhi sheltered two per cent of the country's population as refugees. They were provided with food, shelter and some minimal medical assistance. 

It is impossible to give permanent shelter to so many people. Liberation wars in other countries of the world took decades to succeed, like Vietnam and South Africa. The liberation war of Balochistan in Pakistan has been going on for decades with no end in sight. Obviously, it would have taken decades to raise a guerilla army and wage a war of liberation in East Pakistan and defeat the well-trained and equipped Pakistani army. But if the burden of this refugee problem continued for several decades, the economy and security of India, especially West Bengal and Northeast India, would have collapsed. So, bold decisions were needed.

Indira Gandhi took nine months to decide and act. After nine months, she resolved the refugee problem. On 3 December 1971, Indian forces invaded East Pakistan. Within just 13 days, by 16 December 1971, today’s Bangladesh was created. Almost all refugees were returned to East Pakistan/Bangladesh.

Today, the border is closed. I am getting phone calls: “Dada, I came to India yesterday on a 15-day visa. But I will not return. What sort of legal status or citizenship is available here?” In one word, the answer is, none. 

Why? The government of India thinks that after 31 December 2014, all communal problems in Bangladesh have been solved. That is the cutoff for fast-tracking citizenship to Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. 

This is the kind of conversation now going on:

India: “No communal problem there. You are a trespasser, criminal.”

Bangladeshi Hindu: “So, Dada, what can be done?”

India: “If you are in any town near the Bangladesh border, touts may arrange Aadhaar and Pan cards, of course, at a hefty price.”

Bangladeshi Hindu: “Well, in 1970, my father and uncle got asylum, a refugee card. They were not treated as criminals.”

India: “Well, then there was Indira Gandhi.” 

I am getting more calls like this. Durga Pratima was broken in Sujanagar in Pabna, Mirpara market in Khulna on Mahalaya Day. I get a call saying that the girl next door has been abducted, she has not been found for seven days. A country of 1.3 billion people cannot afford to open camps for refugees under the UN definition of helpless religious persecution. Their fate now is to come to India through brokers and live as illegal citizens.

West Bengal is silent — left and right, everyone. Shahriar Kabir, who is ill and in jail, along with Muntasir Mamun and Rana Dasgupta — people who sacrificed their lives and careers for minorities in Bangladesh — are now living in fear due to false criminal cases filed against them. We, the people of West Bengal, do not seem to care. Nor do the leaders of the ruling parties of India at the central or state levels. Only lip service is being offered through a handful of official statements. 

Anti-India people are now in power in all neighbouring countries of India. A Maoist party in Nepal, an anti-India Marxist-Leninist party in Sri Lanka, arch-enemy Pakistan, and a new enemy Bangladesh. Indian diplomacy has never seen such a predicament. Citizens across these countries must be witnessing how 'big brother' India remains indifferent to the suffering of persecuted people in its neighbouring nations. 

What is needed now is a bold decision by the government of India, not just to provide refugee shelter camps, but to take appropriate drastic measures for a permanent solution to the persecution and displacement of minorities in Bangladesh.

A thousand refugees standing in the river, a frightened priest in a puja mandap, and a teenage daughter hiding in a corner of the house are all hoping for the return of another Indira.