Ever since the unceremonious ouster of Sheikh Hasina from the helm of power in Bangladesh, Hindus are being killed, attacked, and raped with their temples vandalised, idols broken and properties looted by Islamists. Even in the face of the worst atrocities being committed by Islamists against Hindus, a significant section of the Western media is dead set on whitewashing the Islamist crimes. After the “Hindus are safe in Bangladesh” and “politically and not religiously driven attacks” narratives to whitewash Islamist crimes fell flat, the Western media weaving a fresh narrative of “anti-India sentiments”.
On the 14th of August, the American magazine The New Yorker published an article based on a phone conversation with Subho Basu, an associate professor of history and classical studies at McGill University and author wherein it attempted to justify anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh since India is a Hindu-majority country.
The article [archive] titled The Historical Forces Behind the Student Rebellion in Bangladesh delved into what led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, and what was the breaking point. Subho Basu told the publication about the quota system history in Bangladesh and how the recent anti-quota protests erupted. Subho Basu asserted that the opposition to Sheikh Hasina did not come from the Islamist political outfit Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) but only from the students who wanted to ‘reform’ the State. However, right after Sheikh Hasina left Bangladesh, it was seen how the ‘reform’ enthusiasts stormed into her residence, stole items, and cattle and flashed her undergarments in celebration. Too much reform for a Muslim-majority nation.
Subho Basu hands clean chit to BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami even as they actively magnified the violent protests
While Basu gave a clean chit to BNP suggesting that students’ protests took the form of anti-government protests, OpIndia has earlier reported how the anti-quota protests led by students were never anti-government protests since it was the Sheikh Hasina-led government that had scrapped the quota for government jobs and later filed an appeal against Supreme Court upholding the High Court’s decision to reinstate the quotas in government jobs. this Islamist political outfit alongside Jihadist Jamaat-e-Islami hijacked the protests. While protests became more violent as clashes between protestors and police rose, the violence escalated when the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) began to amp up the protests and use them to attack the ruling Awami League government. The involvement of these opposition groups exacerbated the intensity of the protests, as their supporters joined the fray.
‘Anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh is justified since the Hindu nationalist party is ruling in India‘: New Yorker article tries to insinuate
In his blatant justification of the violence unleashed by Islamists in Bangladesh, Subho Basu said that the ‘protestors’ perceived that somehow India was behind curbed press freedom, alleged forced disappearances by Awami League leaders and illegal arrests.
According to Basu’s insinuation, since there is a “Hindu nationalist” part in power in India, the killings of Hindus, rape, arson, and attacks on temples is all justified as a Hindu nationalist party ruling a Hindu majority country ‘did not sit well’ with a Muslim majority Bangladesh. On one hand, Basu claimed that the protestors were not Islamists, on the other, he also blamed the “Hindu India” for causing discontent among them. Why would Bangladesh “non-Islamist” protestors be upset with India being ruled by a democratically elected so-called Hindu nationalist party unless they hate India, particularly the Hindu majority?
It must be recalled how the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami spearheaded an anti-India campaign “India Out” calling for a boycott of Indian goods.
Downplaying the anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh, The New Yorker’s reporter Isaac Chotiner said that there are ‘fears’ that Hindus have been targeted in this ‘revolution. This comes despite the fact that more than 205 attacks on Hindus by Islamist mobs have been reported. It is pertinent to mention here that The New Yorker has time and again targeted the Modi government in its propaganda pieces. Last year, Isaac Chotiner exposing his disdain for Hindus vocal about their rights had launched an unprovoked attack on Suhag A Shukla, co-founder and executive director of advocacy organisation Hindu American Foundation after the foundation posted a message congratulating Shukla on being honoured by the US health secretary.
OpIndia has persistently been exposing the sinister agenda of Western and Islamist-sympathising media outlets. While Australian state-owned ABC News passed off the anti-Hindu pogroms in Bangladesh as politically motivated and blamed the Indian media for ‘inflaming anxieties’ by reporting Islamist attacks on Hindus, Qatar-funded Islamist propaganda outlet Al Jazeera claimed that Indian media houses reporting the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘Alarmist’. Before this, the New York Times also tried to pass off the violence against Hindus as “political revenge attacks”. These propaganda outlets are using Hindu ‘intellectuals’ and some sold-outs to cement their anti-Hindu narrative and whitewash the Islamist crimes.
Notably, OpIndia punctured the apocryphal narrative peddled by these Islamist cheerleaders that attacks on Hindus happened since they are Awami League supporters, by questioning if that was actually the case why Islamists targeted Hindu temples. The Western media through the ‘intellectuals’, ‘authors’ and ‘political analysts’ is throwing a fresh argument that Hindus are under attack as they supported Sheikh Hasina who was pro-India. Thus, for attacking Hindu leaders of the Awami League, their association with the party was enough, and for vandalising Hindu temples, Sheikh Hasina’s closeness with India was enough.
Those who singled out Hindus, assaulted them, raped their women and destroyed their temples were driven by their hate for “Hindu India” as claimed by Subho Basu, and yet he fails to muster the courage to call them Islamist fanatics. It was also reported that Jamaat-e-Islami prepared a list of Hindu houses and shops to be attacked regardless of their political affiliation or opinion about India. Hating India just because the Indian people voted a Hindu nationalist party to power thrice itself establishes that the mob violence in Bangladesh is solely driven by Hindu hate. It must be noted that Muslim leaders of Awami League have also been targeted and killed, which can be called political revenge, however, the Jamaat and BNP supporters did not burn mosques to exact political revenge or express their hatred towards Awami League for its India-friendly stance.
‘Hindu India’ and Indian ‘right-wing’ to be blamed for anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh, but attackers are not Islamists
Much like how the Indian liberals and Islamist bootlickers are blaming Indian media and the “right-wing” for magnifying the anti-Hindu violence, Subho Basu while speaking to The New Yorker, blamed the Indian right wing for the same. He went on to claim that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party is trying to capitalise on the anti-Hindu violence in India since its popularity is declining.
This argument, however, is flawed. Firstly and most importantly, the BJP’s popularity is not essentially declining. In a largely free and fair democracy like India wherein every move of the government is under public scrutiny, the BJP has managed to gain more seats than the entire united opposition alliance for the third consecutive time with Narendra Modi still being on the helm of power and popularity. Secondly, while Islamists and their propaganda wing would want India to leave Hindus at the mercy of Islamists, the so-called Indian right wing does not see the plight of Hindus from the perspective of political gains. For Hindus in India, it is a matter of their co-religionists being persecuted by a community which is the majority in Bangladesh and the second-largest majority in India. It is not rocket science that the unrest in a neighbouring country like Bangladesh would have ramifications for India.
It is ironic that Basu blamed ‘Hindu India’ and Indian ‘right-wing’ for the Muslim mobs attacking Hindus and their temples and yet opines that they are ‘reform’ seekers not Islamists. Historically, Hindus were driven out of Afghanistan, are being persecuted in Pakistan and are now being attacked in Bangladesh at a significant scale, if this systematic genocide of Hindus continues, the Indian Hindus will also face a similar existential threat.
After justifying Hindu persecution as a political reprisal, Islamist pens for hire are now whitewashing it by blaming ‘Hindu India’. In every scenario, they want to shape global opinion such that persecution of Hindus for political reasons, or simply because Islamists are dissatisfied with the Hindu majority India, is legitimate and not unworthy of global outrage.
