The exodus of Hindus to India from Bangladesh is continuing

Kolkata  :: Telling a lie does not come under any fine or tax.  On Saturday last (2nd March 2013),  the West Bengal government denied that there has not been any exodus from Bangladesh to West Bengal following violence in the neighboring country over a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader being sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war. “We have no such report,” Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee told PTI when asked if there was an exodus from Bangladesh. “Security arrangements have been strengthened along the border,” he said on the measures that the state government has suggested to the BSF. In Malda, the BSF has been asked to intensify patrolling along the border. Top BSF officials said that the border outposts have been alerted all along and till now there was no report of any influx from either side. Some of the worst trouble spots in Bangladesh were said to be located quite close to the West Bengal borders and round the clock vigil was mounted. The news hooked up in the prime media coverage.

But, the reality in West Bengal borders and sudden increase of pilgrimage from Bangladesh in the holy places, shrines, monasteries tell another thing.

Not only that,  BJP Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra, who accompanied President Pranab Muherjee on his recent Dhaka trip, said the situation in Bangladesh “is pretty tense”.

Mitra said that “Hindu minorities are at the receiving end in Bangladesh” in the current communal clashes in Bangladesh run by Jamaat e Islami of Bangladesh.

The violence against minorities is “aimed at driving out the Hindus who are concentrated in a few districts where the Jamaat is also concentrated.. The exodus of Hindus to India is continuing,” said Mitra.

The Jamaat is protesting the death sentence handed over to a leader for war crimes committed in 1971.

Mitra said India has “certain moral responsibilities as they have to be mindful of their security.. And if another exodus takes place (like during the 1971 war), we will have to provide shelter,” he said, adding that the Jamaat is like the Taliban in nature. “It has risen from strength to strength and consolidated its position.” So, the new series of Hindu exodus from Bangladesh after recent Islamic violence by Jammat e Islami, has been started afresh.

 Actually, hundreds of Hindus have been attacked, their shops and businesses burnt and women threatened by the Jamaat-e-Islami in the current spate of violence unleashed by the Islamists in neighboring Bangladesh, as it is focused  in a discussion forum held in New Delhi.

“Hindus, who number more than one crore in Bangladesh, live in fear and agony… They don’t have anyone to help them,” said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay at a discussion on ‘Bangla Desh-Shahbagh Rising, Jamaat-e-Islami’s violence and the Indian response’.

The protests at Shahbag transcend religion, he said.

“They are an assertion that we are all Bengali Bangladesh is a friendly country, and Sheikh Hasina (prime minister) is a friend (of India).. But it is horrendous and unacceptable that thousands of Hindu homes are being burnt, looted and police are unable to provide protection,” said Vijay.

“The Jamaat is acting on behalf of Pakistan and the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) and against India,” he alleged.

As a result, as far as 1600 Hindu families from Noakhali and Chattagram has reached to Bharat with or without passport only to stay here until the position in Bangladesh is made stabilized. Major portion of these families are visiting holy places in West Bengal and staying in the different Dharmashalas, different branches of Hindu Ashrams and in the houses of relatives or in rented houses.  The poorer Hindu refugees in this phase are also seeking the job of daily labourers  or anything to be a means of survive.

Most of these Hindu uprooted families from Bangladesh  are mainly halting in Kakdwip, Basanti areas in South 24 Parganas. Barasat, Banga in North 24 Parganas and Ranaghat, Tehatta areas in Nadia and Cooch Behar and Dakshin Dinaj Pur and Jalpaiguri in North Bengal. Some of these people are now in disguise of patient or pilgrims. Some of these Hindu refugees from Bangladesh uprooted by the Jamaatis, are now contemplating to venture in far states like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra.

The Islamists in Bangladesh are trying to make a Hindu-less Bangladesh. Minority Hindus of Bangladesh are compelled to flee away from there to here in Bharat. Still Govt. of India is  saying ‘No Exodus yet’.  Though different Hindu organisations in India protesting the tremendous tortures upon Bangladesh Hindus,  Govt in India is not ready to accept the truth of exodus or to extend any help to the tortured and uprooted Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. What a tragedy for the Hindus in Bangladesh.

 

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