Allen David Simon
Even as the Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, leads the nation following Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and flight, Bangladesh’s interim government has moved to lift the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party that had been imposed under antiterrorism laws indicating a mainstreaming of radical Islamist groups. With this turn towards religious nationalism, minorities, especially Hindus, have faced ethnic tensions and violence in post-Hasina Bangladesh. With three Hindu temples set on fire, 24 people burnt alive; Chinmoy Das, an ISKON Hindu priest arrested, and a narrative of exclusion of tribal populations as ‘alibashi’ (separatists).
Religious nationalism: Challenges to secularism and democracy
The Awami League (AL), led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had secured Bangladesh’s independence in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: which was fought against the in the post-partition Panjabi-Pathaan hegemony over the Pakistani government and the military, political exclusion of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and an imposition of Urdu as the national language. Built on the back of the Bangla Bhasha Movement (Bengali language Movement), linguistic autonomy defined Mujibur’s secular construct of the Bengali ethnic identity.
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