‘Murder of Dipu Das in Bangladesh is a stain on humanity’: Swami Chidanand Saraswati Maharaj

RISHIKESH(Uttarakhand): Swami Chidanand Saraswati Maharaj of Parmarth Niketan on Friday condemned the murder of 27-year-old Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh, calling it a “stain on humanity”.

He warned that such violence brings shame to society and disrepute to Islam, while questioning the role of human rights defenders.

While speaking, Swami Chidanand Saraswati said, “The murder of Dipu Das in Bangladesh is a stain on humanity… A cycle of violence has begun. It has shamed all of humanity… They invoke the name of religion, but their actions are driven by hatred. What kind of Islam is this?… This brings disrepute to Muslims, the Quran, and Islam itself… Where are those who keep running with the flag of human rights?…”

The 27-year-old Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, was brutally killed in Mymensingh, again triggering international concern over the safety of minorities in Bangladesh.

Das was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy, and his body was subsequently set on fire on December 18.

As per the Minority Rights Group, a human rights organisation working globally with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, the Hindu population of Bangladesh has suffered considerable harm as a consequence of political events since 1947.

According to the rights group based in Hungary, the Hindus in Bangladesh have been “particularly targeted during the Bangladesh Liberation War as many Pakistanis blamed them for the secession, resulting in targeted executions, rape and other human rights abuses.”

The Hindu minorities, who consisted of 22 per cent of the total population of the (East Bengal) province according to the official 1951 census, the number depleted to 15 per cent by 1991, and in the 2011 census were numbered at just 8.5 per cent, the Minority Rights Group highlights.

“Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Hindu population has suffered significantly at the hands of Islamic extremists, resulting in their further exodus into West Bengal in India. Despite persistent persecution, Hindus have managed to gain some political influence because of their geographical concentration in some regions.

The oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh has been a constant feature in its history, both when it was still East Pakistan and since independence,” the organisation highlights in its section about Hindus in Bangladesh. (ANI)