A new beginning for Bangladesh Christians

Minorities, including Christians, in Bangladesh need to start from the scratch due to their steadfast support to the erstwhile 15-year-old Sheikh Hasina regime that was toppled on Aug. 5 by an internal revolt, spearheaded by students.

Temples, homes and businesses of Hindus in the Muslim-majority nation came under attack after the 76-year-old leader of the secular Awami League was sent packing.

Christians who form less than half percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million population were seen as solid backers of the Hasina government along with Hindus in Bangladesh, located on the banks of the Bay of Bengal in the vast Indian Ocean. 

In the anarchic situation in the South Asian nation after the revolt against her government, a large number of Hindus have been attempting to flee to India deserting their dwelling places, businesses, friends, and the motherland. Hindus make up over 8 percent of the population.

Christians and Hindus endorsed Hasina as the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh she gifted the nation development and stability. In the context of many important human development indicators, Bangladesh surpassed Pakistan, from where it secured independence in 1971 after winning a bloody war.

The liberation war between the Pakistan army and the Awami League supporters of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, killed up to 3 million people, which is accepted by the Bangladesh government.

Numerous people died from hunger and nearly four hundred thousand women were raped. During the war, the US and China supported Pakistan and India, backed by Russia, sided with Rehman.

Before the partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947, Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal) was part of the British Empire for nearly two centuries when a large number of famine deaths occurred due to the abject poverty of peasants in the region though nearly 60 percent of the British imports from Asia consisted of goods from Bengal then.

Currently, there are over 600,000 Christians in the country, and nearly half of them trace their origins to the ethnic minority groups who were strenuously looking at the Hasina government to improve their material and spiritual prospects. She did not let them down.

Though less in number, the Church in Bangladesh is held in high esteem as it runs a large network of social institutions in the field of education and healthcare because of the missionary activities during the colonial occupation.

The Church leaders in Bangladesh seldom criticized Hasina as her government catered to all sections of polity. Maybe this goodwill has come to the rescue of Christians as their Hindu counterparts faced the wrath of protesters after the violent overthrow of the Hasina government.

Though Hasina was willing to meet the demands, the students and the people behind the revolt were hell-bent on her immediate removal.

During the unrest, the Church hierarchy in Bangladesh was known for its tight-lipped nature as Christians always had a soft corner for her regime.

Since she was doing good for the community, Christian leaders never bothered to criticize Hasina on her dubious track record on poll rigging, corruption, extrajudicial killings and disappearances, and draconian laws.

Christian leaders’ stoic silence at times encouraged cronies of the regime to target the community members for personal gains, including land. But the Church leaders did not bother to cross swords her.

The fourth largest country in the world by population witnessed mayhem after the revolt by students over the controversial quota system for government jobs for the descendants of freedom fighters.

According to dissenting students, the quota system is discriminatory as Hasina’s Awami League party members have hijacked a lion’s share of it as it led the independence movement. They were insisting on its replacement with a merit-based system as unemployment is skyrocketing with some 32 million youths not in work or education in the country, said local media reports.

Over 100 people perished on Aug. 5 alone, the deadliest day of violence, since students from leading universities like the Dhaka University in the capital took to the streets in large numbers in July.

At least 440 people, including minors, were killed and the powerful prime minister was forced to flee via a military transport to neighboring India minutes before thousands of people stormed into her official residence to ransack it.

Her resignation triggered jubilation across the country and her minority supporters were left high and dry.

Now that their trusted leader has fled the nation, Christians in the country will have to start working with the caretaker government, led by Mohammed Younis, who showed even beggars can have choices if they form the ubiquitous Self Help Groups (SGHs) with likeminded beggars.  

Since the winner of the Nobel Prize in economics pioneered the business of poverty in the underdeveloped nation, Christians will find a good ally in the 84-year-old professor-turned-banker. His knack for ending poverty through economic means will come in handy for Christians.

In post-Hasina Bangladesh, Church leaders will have to chart out a new course of action as the army in the riverine country has made attempts to taste power on as many as 29 occasions -- some of them sordidly successful.