The Reality of Bangladesh’s Hindus Behind the Government’s Statistics
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Let us begin with a case. In Chattogram, a BNP leader filed a case alleging disrespect to the national flag. The allegations were so absurd that even the BNP expelled the leader from the party. In other words, the very party that is now in power had, at one point, acknowledged through its own action that the case was unjustified. Yet Sannyasi Chinmoy Das has remained behind bars for nearly two years in connection with that very case. The person who initiated the case has been disowned by his own party, but the accused remains imprisoned. Do those in power have an answer to this glaring contradiction?
While Chinmoy was delivering a speech at Laldighi Maidan, a group of young men hoisted a saffron flag on a separate stand above the Bangladeshi national flag at New Market Square, nearly one kilometre away. One person delivered the speech; others raised the flag. Yet it was the former who ended up in prison. If this is the logic being applied, the speaker at any public gathering could be held responsible for any incident occurring anywhere in the surrounding area.
During a clash among lawyers near the court premises, lawyer Alif was killed. Chinmoy was also shown as arrested in connection with that murder case. Yet when Alif was killed, Chinmoy was sitting inside a police prison van, already detained in police custody. How could someone whom the state itself
