15 lakh Bangladeshi Hindus seeking refuge in India: RSS to UNHRC

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 13

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday petitioned the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) alleging targeted attacks on Hindus and religious minorities in Bangladesh and demanded a UN fact-finding mission to determine the scale of atrocities. RSS’ intellectual wing Prajna Pravah submitted the petition saying continuous persecution of minorities in Bangladesh was causing mass exodus of Hindu families.

“It is estimated that over 1.5 million (15 lakh) Hindu and other minority refugees including men, women, children and elderly are fleeing to India to seek refuge.... Facilitate safe passage for those seeking refuge to ensure they can reach safely without further harm or harassment and provide necessary humanitarian assistance to the refugees,” states the petition which, RSS leaders said, had received over three lakh signatures.

Indian borders with Bangladesh, meanwhile, remain sealed as per government orders with the BSF denying any infiltration attempts and maintaining that an August 9 attempt by around 1,700 Bangladeshis immigrants, including Hindus, to enter India was peacefully foiled.

The BSF is under government instruction to prevent undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants from entering Indian territory, religion notwithstanding.

The RSS, ruling BJP’s ideological mentor, however says in its petition that 15 lakh Hindus and other minorities are fleeing persecution after the August 6 “military coup” in the country and must be accorded safe passage.

Prajna Pravah member Monika Arora told this reporter that the organisation had documented 50 cases of grave human rights violations against Hindus in Bangladesh. “We will submit the testimonies to the UNHRC,” she said, adding that Bangladeshis Hindus should be given a safe passage to wherever they want to go.

UNHRC must first safeguard the minorities there, she said, hoping the Indian Government policy on the issue also takes shape by then. So far, Delhi has been urging Dhaka to protect the minorities.

The RSS front’s petition further urges the UNHRC to engage with the Bangladeshi Government to safeguard the lives, property and dignity of religious minorities there; mobilise international support to pressurise the Bangladesh Government to uphold human rights and protect its minorities.

The RSS appeal also flags a declining minority population in Bangladesh. “According to the 2022 national census, Muslims constitute about 91 per cent of the population, while Hindus make up roughly 8 per cent. This marks a slight shift from the 2011 census, where Muslims were recorded at 89 per cent and Hindus at 10 per cent. The plight of other minorities is also the same and they are also declining in numbers,” it says detailing under the summary of events in Bangladesh incidents of violence and vandalism against minorities and their places of worship; killings; sexual violence and forced displacement.