On Friday, Muslims and ‘student activists’ in Bangladesh took out a protest march ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka. PM Modi is scheduled to join his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on March 26 during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.
Following the Jummah (Friday prayers), a group of about 500 Muslims marched on the streets outside Baitul Mokarram Mosque in Dhaka. In a video that has now surfaced on social media, hordes of men brandishing skull caps and long beards were seen sloganeering against India and Prime Minister Modi. They were also seen holding their chappals (floaters) in the air to express their demand for the cancellation of his trip to the country.
Protest rallies of Islamist parties started from Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in #Dhaka on Friday after Jummah Prayer demanding cancellation of #Modi‘s visit…#ModiNotWelcome#GoBackModi #GoBackFascistModi pic.twitter.com/f6X3vE7cGx
— Nznn Ahmed (@na_nznn) March 19, 2021
A second protest march was taken out by the ‘student activists’ of the Left at the campus of Dhaka University. The protestors carried a banner that read, ‘Go Back Modi’, ‘Go Back India’, and ‘Go Back Killer Modi.’ The demonstrators alleged that PM Modi and his ‘Hindu nationalist party’ have been ‘oppressing’ Muslims in India. They further claimed that several Bangladeshis have been killed by Indian border security guards, while in reality, such deaths occur when they try to smuggle, infiltrate into the Indian territory.
We will become Taliban, says protestor
“India’s subordinate government of Hasina has invited Modi, we are here to protest against that,” commented one Hossain Mohammed Anwar. In another video shared by Bangladeshi Hindu activist Raju Das, an Islamist was heard saying, “If Narendra Modi is allowed to come to Bangladesh, we will have to turn into terrorists. Bengal will become Afghanistan, and we will become the Taliban.”
They Say:
— Raju Das 🇧🇩 (@RajuDas7777) March 20, 2021
If Narendra Modi is allowed to come to Bangladesh, we will all become terrorists. Bengal will be Afghan, we will be Taliban. We will rise with the roar of Osama bin Laden, we will not obey any obstacle. We are Rasul soldier, don’t be afraid of bullet bombs. pic.twitter.com/GHdEapsTMq
“We will rise with the roar of Osama bin Laden, we will not obey any obstacle. We are Rasul soldier, don’t be afraid of bullets and bombs. Remember, Allah is with you. We cannot tolerate this. For the sake of Islam, the Quran and the country, we will all fight together, he concluded. Besides, the protestors were seen putting up an effigy of PM Modi with the inscription, “Modi is a terrorist.” They also desecrated the Indian flag but putting up a cross mark on the tricolour.
Islamist organisations in Bangladesh protest against Indian
In February last year, thousands of Muslims took out a march from the main mosque in Bangladesh capital Dhaka to protest against the Indian government for the riots in Delhi which left at least 52 dead and hundreds injured. Thousands of Muslims left the Baitul Mokarram Mosque, joined the rally and shouted slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The protesters went on to demand that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina drop her plan to invite Prime Minister Modi to a commemoration next month on the 100th birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The protesters claimed that the invitation was an insult to the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh and disrespect to the non-communal freedom icon of the nation. The march was organized by six Muslim political groups at the initiative of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam General Secretary Nur Hossain Qasmi. There was massive police deployment around the protest area.
Anti-CAA Bangladeshi student asked to leave India
Afsara Meem, a first-year student of Visva-Bharati University was allegedly asked to leave India for indulging in activities against the Indian government. Afsara, the undergraduate student was allegedly told by the authorities to leave India for uploading pictures of the Anti-CAA protests on her Facebook handle, as per a report in Telegraph.
The 20-year-old student who had come to India in 2018 from Bangladesh’s Kustia is pursuing a Bachelor of Design degree at the department of fine arts. The Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office of Kolkata had reportedly issued a ‘leave-India’ letter to the Bangladeshi woman on 14 February. Legal activists group Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) has claimed that they had highlighted the case of a foreign national interfering in India’s internal matters.
