On 7th August, in an interview with The Wire, Sajen Shamsuddoza, a journalist at Bangladeshi media house The Daily Star attempted to downplay the severity of the recent attack on the Hindu community following the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina amidst ongoing protests and violence. The neighbouring country is grappling with political turmoil and the reports of violence against Hindus are all over the media which has raised significant concerns among Hindus living in India. However, Shamsuddoza watered down the attacks and claimed those took place to “malign the achievements of the student-led movement”.
Can you believe?
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) August 8, 2024
On The Wire, Bangladeshi journalist says attacks on Hindus are just a plot to malign the image of the protesters
This is the kind of conspiracy theory being spread by liberals now.
Liberals will never admit that Hindus can be victims. pic.twitter.com/GU6TXBdyCe
Despite the alarming reports coming out from Bangladesh, Shamsuddoza suggested that the extent of the violence might be “exaggerated”. He acknowledged that there have been incidents of attacks on Hindus but asserted that they were not “as widespread” as some reports have claimed. He attributed the violence to attempts to malign the achievements of the student-led movement against the Hasina regime and argued that such chaos could be used to “discredit” their efforts.
While he has downplayed the attack on Hindus, it was his employer media house, The Daily Star, that had reported that there were attacks on Hindus in 27 districts across Bangladesh.
Interestingly, The Wire is not the only media house in India that has tried to downplay the attacks on Hindus. The Scroll in a report claimed that the attack on Hindus happened due to their affiliation to Sheikh Hasina’s party, Awami League. On the international platform, The New York Times called the attack on Hindus “revenge attacks” in the headline of a report and changed it after backlash on social media.
Apart from the attack on Hindus, they discussed several other points regarding the regime change in Bangladesh. When asked about the current situation in the country, Sajen Shamsuddoza said that people were feeling uncertain about the future as there was no government for two days and reports of violence including reports of attacks on minorities, vandalism and attacks on people in general came out.
He further asserted that the protests were not yet over as the demands of students had not been met completely. The students that have been protesting have demanded reforms in the state system and the constitution of the country and only after these demands are addressed, there could be “hope for the future”. He said, “The students have proposed a period of three to six years for the interim government to create new political parties and bring changes. There is a common feeling that the people want a new political party rather than the existing ones.”
Speaking on the possibility of fundamentalists taking control of the country, Sajen Shamsuddoza said that Islamic parties like Jamaat-e-Islami have never gained more than 5% votes in elections. He further claimed that the student protesters are more focused on restoring democracy than promoting fundamentalism.
Interestingly, despite being a journalist from Bangladesh, he completely ignored the fact that the main opposition party, BNP, is no less than a fundamentalist. BNP leans more towards Pakistan which has pushed the party cadre towards radicalisation. Not to forget, the vice chairperson Tarique Rahman of BNP is a convict in a terror attack that killed 24 people in 2004 and there have been calls to let him come back to Bangladesh by none other than an ex-US Diplomat.
