According to the World Bank, South Asia, “supported by strong domestic demand in India and rapid recovery in most South Asian countries,” is on track to become the world’s fastest-growing region. The bank has predicted that the growth rate of this sector will remain at 6.4 percent for the next two years. The volatility is likely to slow Bangladesh’s growth to a range of 5.2 to 3.2 percent this year. But India’s growth rate will remain strong above 7 percent. It is estimated that Bhutan will increase by 7.2 percent, Maldives by 4.7 percent and Nepal by 5.1 percent. Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which are battling political and economic turmoil, are also expected to ride on new economic initiatives and revival of tourism and industrial activity in the coming years.
The World Bank’s approach may sound like a fairy tale to many. How is it possible for a region mired in demographic complexity, political rivalry and sectarian conflict to become the fastest growing region in the world? The region has seen widespread popular uprisings in countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh in recent years. In Bangladesh, mobs succeeded in overthrowing an elected government and replacing it with an ad hoc regime without democratic process. In Pakistan, the country’s most popular leader is in jail with his supporters on the streets amid massive clashes with the country’s military.
On top of this, the region inherited the worst form of inter-religious rivalry thanks largely to the machinations of the British colonialists, but also to the ill-conceived decision of the Indian leadership to accept the partition of the country in 1947. Since then Muslims have become an everyday reality in the Indian subcontinent.
India sought to address this challenge through a strong and inclusive constitution, strong government action and an independent judiciary. The inclusive nature of the majority Hindu population also helped this process. Despite occasional incidents like Sambhal, this vast country of 1.4 billion people, with about 20 percent of the population being minorities, has largely maintained stability and harmony. Where challenges arose, the judicial process, independent media and socio-political activism helped the victims. Minority politics also flourished over the decades, sometimes helping communities in need, but more often seeking to make political capital out of it.
But the situation remained uncertain for the minority Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and some Muslim sects such as Ismailis and Ahmadis in its neighbourhood. After Islam became the state religion in both Pakistan and Bangladesh, minority communities were subjected to many restrictions and denial of rights. Pakistan forcibly evicted most of its minorities through repressive state action, such as blasphemy laws, along with aggressive behavior by the religious leadership.
But what is worrying is that Bangladesh, a nation born by rejecting the politics of religion, is turning into an Islamist state. Hindus and other minorities who sacrificed equally in the struggle for the creation of Bengali nation five decades ago are being subjected to atrocities in the same country today.
The unspeakable brutality of the Pakistani army in the liberation struggle of Bengali nationalists in 1970-71 led to authors such as eminent American academic Gary J. Bass writing a book called The Blood Telegram. In one of the first major incidents, the Pakistani army attacked Jagannath Hall, a Hindu hostel at Dhaka University, on March 25, 1971. Murders, rapes and other atrocities against Hindus continued until the independence of Bangladesh, killing millions. People and about 10 million refugees are fleeing to India.
US Senator Ted Kennedy, who visited the refugee camp in 1971, called the war a ‘systematic campaign of terror’ by the Pakistani army. “The worst hit are members of the Hindu community, who have been robbed of their land and shops, systematically murdered and in some places painted with yellow patches in the form of an H,” he said.
The Indira-Mujib Pact of 1972 contained terms promising to take care of Bangladesh’s minorities. Many refugee Hindus returned home to that country. Sadly, despite some efforts by successive governments, Hindus continue to face persecution and violence at regular intervals, with major incidents occurring in 1992, 2001, and 2021. The Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina sought to provide protection to the minorities. It brought many Hindu MPs into Parliament and even made a Hindu Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It provided support to Dhakeshwari Temple, a famous Hindu shrine in Dhaka. However, anti-Hindu violence continues.
As instability continues in the country, attacks on Hindus and Buddhists have reached a peak again. Muslim Bangladeshis, mostly Awami League leaders, are also being subjected to many atrocities. As the arrest of ISKCON priest Chinmoy Das has proved, Hindus cannot even rely on the country’s judiciary for justice.
I only talked about the economic growth of the region with all this around us, we can still grow. During World War II, the U.S. military that went to Europe to crush the Nazis and their racial hatred was a completely separate entity unto itself. Black and white soldiers do not live together, fight together, or even share blood supplies. However, they won the war. Racial discrimination continued until President John F. Kennedy declared that “race has no place in American life or law.”
Can the subcontinental leadership similarly rise up and declare that communalism has no place in the life and laws of our country and of course act accordingly?
Author, Chairman, Bharat Foundation, is with BJP. Views are personal