Bangladesh’s minority leaders have warned that a recent statement by Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury could trigger fresh Islamist attacks on the country’s Hindu community following Durga Puja, accusing the interim government of stoking communal tension under the pretext of protecting “religious sentiment.”
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, said the adviser’s remarks — alleging that artists and priests had “placed beards” on the faces of Asur (demon) idols at 793 Durga Puja mandaps — were both provocative and dangerous.
The group fears that such rhetoric may embolden extremist elements already responsible for recent waves of anti-Hindu violence across the country.
Alarm over inflammatory remarks
“The adviser’s accusation is not only baseless but also incendiary,” said the council, warning that it could serve as a green light for hardline Islamist groups to attack Hindu temples and Puja venues.
“When a senior government figure publicly equates artistic expression with blasphemy, it puts lives at risk and gives violent actors the justification they seek.”
Following the adviser’s October 5 remarks, general diaries (GDs) were filed at several police stations, and investigations were reportedly initiated against artists and organisers accused of “hurting religious sentiments.”
The council said these steps marked an alarming escalation of harassment against minority communities and could lead to renewed persecution of Hindu artisans and priests.
The home adviser had claimed that in hundreds of Puja pavilions, beards were deliberately added to the demon’s face to “create unrest” and that “fascist accomplices” were conspiring to spread false rape allegations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and disturb communal harmony nationwide. He also suggested that a recent incident abroad — where Bangladesh’s chief adviser was allegedly depicted in a Puja idol — might be part of the same “conspiracy.”
“A dangerous misuse of state power”
The Unity Council’s acting general secretary, Monindra Kumar Nath, signed the statement condemning the government’s tone as “authoritarian” and “discriminatory.”
“This attempt to criminalize a traditional art form is a dangerous misuse of state power,” he said. “It risks turning law enforcement into a tool of oppression against minorities.”
The council emphasized that idol-makers in Bangladesh have, for decades, incorporated various symbols and motifs — including facial hair — to depict evil forces.
“These are creative expressions rooted in culture, not political statements,” the statement read. “To suddenly interpret them as religious provocation is to weaponize faith for political ends.”
Several human rights groups echoed the council’s concern, saying that the adviser’s comments have inflamed communal passions at a time when minorities are still recovering from widespread violence following the formation of the military- and Islamist-backed interim government led by Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus in August 2024.
Pattern of persecution
Rights monitors, including Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) and the Unity Council itself, have documented large-scale violence against Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians in recent months.
Between 4 and 20 August 2024, the council recorded over 2,000 incidents of murder, rape, arson, and looting targeting minority homes and temples. ASK reported that at least 318 people — including children — were killed during those two weeks.
Activists have accused pro-regime mobs of raiding Hindu neighborhoods, burning temples, and driving families from their homes while security forces either stood by or aided the attackers. The latest controversy, they say, risks reopening wounds and providing extremists with a pretext for renewed violence.
Calls for restraint and justice
The BHBCUC called on the interim government to immediately withdraw its directive for legal action and to issue a public assurance of protection for all Durga Puja venues. “The state must stand with its minorities, not scapegoat them,” the statement said. “We urge the authorities to refrain from turning religious law into an instrument of intimidation.”
The council also appealed to secular and progressive sections of Bangladeshi society to raise their voices against what it called “the creeping normalization of bigotry.”
Human rights advocates argue that the controversy underscores a deeper erosion of Bangladesh’s secular identity. “The state is increasingly speaking the language of the mobs it should restrain,” said one Dhaka-based rights lawyer. “Each time a government official blames minorities for ‘provocation,’ another community becomes fair game.”
A fragile test for pluralism
The Durga Puja festival — celebrated by Bangladesh’s nearly 10 million Hindus — has long been a symbol of coexistence in a Muslim-majority nation. But this year’s festivities are unfolding under heavy security and growing anxiety.
As the Unity Council warned, “When political power aligns with religious intolerance, art becomes a crime, and minorities become targets.”
Observers say how the interim government responds in the coming days — whether by upholding due process or by capitulating to extremist narratives — will reveal much about the future of Bangladesh’s plural democracy.
