In the wake of the recent eruption of communal violence in Bangladesh against Hindu minorities, countless arguments and numerous criticisms have been brought to light. Something odd is happening—Bangladesh is being painted by elements as a violent state from which Hindus are persecuting and fleeing away, into India continuously. Hindus are being tortured in Bangladesh Some claimed that Bangladesh has become quite a case of ethnic cleansing- subtly but forcefully ousting Hindu minorities across the border. Some even went further claiming that Bangladesh has failed to form a state where different religious and ethnic groups can coexist based on the principle of secularism- one of the four fundamental pillars of the liberation war in 1971. To cast evidence to those criticisms, most of them point fingers at the continuous decline of the Hindu minority population in Bangladesh- a case drawn to demonstrate Bangladesh as a prolific ground of persecution against Hindus. But an objective discernment of those allegations, especially through comprehensive statistical appraisal, relative systemic endeavors, and broader political landscape, makes them, for the most part, lose their grounds.
A country of communal harmony like Bangladesh is rare in the world. Despite being a Muslim majority country, for thousands of years, other religions have been living together in a very peaceful and harmonious environment. During the 50 years of independence, there were no communal riots like in other South Asian countries. In Bangladesh and there were no incidents of killing, oppression, or torture of people of different religions. Won’t happen again. Even if there are some isolated incidents, the fuel and motivation of some anti-Bangladeshi people are behind it, only common people can understand. Those who are behind these incidents must be investigated and judicial action must be taken against them to date. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. Domestic and foreign conspirators always remain elusive. However, the government should be alert and aware of the fact that those behind the scenes. Some vested quarters have become active and may try to destabilize the government by questioning the communal harmony in the upcoming national elections. It is true that the Bangladesh government tries to take all measures to maintain communal harmony in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony as people of different faiths have been living on this soil in peace from time immemorial. Members of Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian communities have been living here from time immemorial in amity and peace.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said already the government will ensure strict action against people who disturb communal harmony in the country.
“No communal disharmony will be allowed here. Government is firm to ensure punishment for those who ransack communal harmony creating anarchy,” he said. Khan said this while addressing Indian media personnel in Dhaka on Saturday in a view of the recent attack on the Hindu community in Narail over a social media post. He said that Bangladesh was trying to achieve a long-lasting development but a vested quarter was trying to dismantle things.
“Today’s Bangladesh is Bangabandhu Sheik Mujib’s non-communal Bangladesh. We are a united nation. No communal disharmony will be placed here and will never get the opportunity too to root here.” “The government will take stern action against all such evils,” the home minister said, claiming the number of minority communities, including Hindus was increasing in Bangladesh.
Statistics and Apparent Assumptions
According to the BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics) data, the percentage of the Hindu community to the total population was 13.5% in 1974, on Bangladesh’s first population census, which, as of the latest census in 2011, stands at 8.5%, and again increases to 10.7% in 2015. Ostensibly, these statistical figures, continuous decline in percentage, seem to confer voice to predominant arguments about the decline of the Hindu population. But, mere percentage estimation tells only the half-truth about the broader demographic landscape of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. If we take the increase in total number, other than a mere percentage, over the years along with other factors that have contributed to declining, into account, it will substantially clarify the whole picture and weaken the predominant narratives about the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Taking the total number into account, in 1974, the Hindu population was 10.31 million which hit slightly above 12.7 million in 2011 and 17 million in 2015. It is seen that the total number has remained increasing whereas the percentage of the total Muslim population, due to relatively higher growth in the number of Muslim populations from 65.24 million in 1974 to135.4million in 2011, has kept decreasing. It is true that growth in numbers is a little slow among the Hindu population and could hit 22 million by 2011 only if it increased linearly in terms of percentage as reported in 1974 (13.5%). But that is not because of any systematic persecution against the minority but rather, in the most part, of international economic migration, relatively lower birth and high mortality rate among the Hindu population, higher rate of contraceptive use, and particular political reality in the history of Bangladesh.
According to the study paper prepared by researchers from ICDDR, B’s Health Systems and Population Studies Division, and the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), studying the population data of 1989-2016 of Matlab Upazila in Chandpur to find out why Hindus have lower population growth than Muslims, the birth rate of Hindu populace in every thousand falls short by 3 points compared to Muslims. While the probability of having a child among Muslim women is 35, it is 32 among Hindu women.
The study found that the tendency for late marriage and having not more than 2 children and relatively higher use of contraceptives also contribute to the low birth rate among the Hindu populace. Even higher numbers of deaths, 4 more than that of Muslims in every ten thousand, can also be subscribed to the decrease in percentage. Finally, researchers concluded that 71 percent of the low growth rate may be attributed to the low rates of fertility and 23 percent to the international out-migration by Hindus.
In the report, they also observed that, since 2006, more Hindus have been opting for countries other than India for out-migration. Only 36 percent of the migrating Hindus of Matlab went to India between 2005 and 2012, but the bigger portion of them went to states other than India for better living- countervailing evidence against predominant propaganda that more Hindus have been leaving for India due to persecution.
Political Upheaval and Systemic liability
To be true, the percentage of Hindu minorities compared with that of Muslims has declined over the last 50 years. But this estimation has overlooked a subtle but solid point: a fundamental political upheaval and constitution of Bangladesh from 1975 to 1991. Just take the number into account, from 1974 to 1991, the percentage of Hindu minority to the total population came down from 13.5 to 10.5 in 16 years. But, after the end of anti-secularism fueled military rule in 1991 and the installation of constitutional democracy, the percentage decline got a little slower- 10.5 in 1991 to 8.5 in 2011 within 20 year of time span. In 2011, after the 15th amendment of the Bangladesh constitution, secularism was restored which, especially contributed to the increasing the percentage of Hindu people in the total populace to 10.7% point in 2015. Unlike, its two bordering states- Myanmar and India, the former denying the Muslim Rohingya minority of citizenship since 1982 out of pathological hatred and the latter rendering Muslims stateless through anti-Muslim laws, Bangladesh has never, particularly since 1991, intended to promote any discriminatory policy, be it in practice or by-laws. Praiseworthy and prompt action taken by the Government of Bangladesh against the menace of the recent Durga Puja incident is a glaring example of this.
The minority is such a phenomenon that every country must possess, be it ethnic or linguistic, or religious. But state-sanctioned discriminatory policy, inherent ethnic or religious tension or historical schism mobilized for political score usually contribute to violence against minorities. However, in Bangladesh mostly politically cornered vested groups have played out on minority to stoke crisis and tame the situation to their end. Besides long cherished pluralistic sentiment in Bangladesh is, rather in times, menaced by the ‘spill-over effect’ of politics and policies in proximate neighbors, of course by political fringe groups.
