Bengal’s Communal Card

M J Akbar 

Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most self-destructive politician, was confident that he would never lose power until Birnam wood began to move.

Since it seemed highly unlikely that a whole forest would trot across towards his fortress, he lived in the complacent world of invincibility. 

Every government in Bengal is equally certain of survival till the Muslim vote begins to move against its citadel. The largest Muslim concentration in India is in Bengal; they constitute 28 per cent of the population, or twice the national average. The effective percentage is higher. Muslims, conscious of the strategic value of their vote, poll in higher numbers. Second, geography is on their side. They are concentrated in an eastern arc that rises from South 24 Parganas and develops demographic momentum in districts like Murshidabad, Malda and Dinajpur. They make the difference in at least half of Bengal’s seats, if not more.

Quiz question: what is the Muslim vote in President Pranab Mukherjee’s former constituency? Above 65 per cent. Rub your eyes again at the next fact. Barring one instance in the 1950s, neither the Congress nor the Marxists have put up a Muslim candidate from this constituency, until the Left did so in last year’s by-election. 

Being a forest, this vote moves slowly, almost imperceptibly, but when it shifts the impact is decisive in Bengal. Till 1967, it supported the Congress. When the mood changed, United Front governments came to power. In 1971, it went back to Congress because of Mrs Indira Gandhi, but from 1977 it veered towards the Left and kept Marxists in power for over three decades. It now forms the vanguard of the Mamata Banerjee insurrection.

The decline in Mamata Banerjee’s urban popularity is evident to anyone who lives in or visits Calcutta. Calcutta has not returned to red yet, but the mood is belligerent. There is incipient nostalgia among the genteel bhadralok in particular for the last Marxist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who had the kind of soft public style that is considered good manners.

Mamata Banerjee is too interventionist, a one-woman occupation force rather than a government. She has not understood the art of surrendering space to colleagues, if for no other reason but to share the blame when things go wrong, as they always will. If you hog the spotlight, warts from elsewhere will drift onto your face. Her nature is confrontational. This wins applause when she dares a Goliath called Delhi. It seems shabby when her ire descends upon little men from Lilliput who crowd the media.

But slip outside the metropolis and you can smell and see the change in mood along with the environment. Rural Bengal, on either bank of the Hooghly river, is as serene as urban Bengal is squalid. As we drive up towards Shantiniketan, where Bengal pays homage to the memory of Rabindranath Tagore, there are only a few patches of the potholed past. On one short stretch, a 20th century road was still being laid over a 19th century surface through 18th century methods. But these villages and small towns that echo through the early phase of East India Company history, remain Mamata territory. The devastation of famine, which came with the British, may have become a nightmare of the past but poverty remains pervasive, visible in the low wages and darned lungis of labour.

It is this constituency of the poor that gives Mamata her political strength. But her true opportunity lies in an area of decision-making which is rarely discussed. Both Congress and Communists never lose a chance to claim secularism as their bread-and-butter creed, but neither has ever empowered Muslims when in government. In any other state a community with a minimum 30 per cent vote would have claimed the chief ministership. Forget that thought in Bengal. Neither Congress nor Communists have even given a Muslim an economic portfolio like finance. As a senior Marxist once told me, Bengali Muslims are considered good enough for only livestock.

So far Mamata Banerjee has remained within the conventional pattern. She has raised the political profile of some Muslim colleagues but that is not going to be enough for a community that is beginning to understand its power. If it continues to be taken for granted, fed with occasional tokenism, the forest will move much faster than before. Mamata Banerjee still has time. And time shall tell if she also has the will to be different.

Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2013/April/opinion_April45.xml&section=opinion

When Germany is Christian, is India Hindu?

(Denying One’s Own Roots)

By Maria Wirth

Though I live in India since long, there are still some points that I find hard to understand - for example why many educated Indians become agitated when India is considered as a Hindu country. The majority of Indians are Hindus. India is special because of its ancient Hindu tradition. Westerners are drawn to India because of it. Why then is there this resistance by many Indians to acknowledge the Hindu roots of their country?

This attitude is strange for two reasons. First, those educated Indians seem to have a problem only with ‘Hindu’ India, but not with ‘Muslim’ or ‘Christian’ countries. In Germany for example, only 59 percent of the population are registered with the two big Christian Churches (Protestant and Catholic), however, the country is bracketed under ‘Christian countries’. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, stressed recently the Christian roots of Germany and urged the population ‘to go back to Christian values’. In 2012, she postponed her trip to the G-8 summit for a day to address the German Catholic Day. Two major political parties carry ‘Christian’ in their name, including Angela Merkel’s ruling party.

Germans are not agitated that Germany is called a Christian country, though I actually would understand if they were. After all, the history of the Church is appalling. The so called success story of Christianity depended greatly on tyranny.  “Convert or die”, were the options given not only to the indigenous population in America some five hundred years ago. In Germany, too, 1200 years ago, the emperor Karl the Great ordered the death sentence for refusal of baptism in his newly conquered realms. It provoked his advisor Alkuin to comment: ‘One can force them to baptism, but how to force them to believe?’

Those times, when one’s life was in danger if one dissented with the dogmas of the Church, are thankfully over. And nowadays many in the west do dissent and leave the Church in a steady stream - partly because they are disgusted with the less than holy behavior of Church officials and partly because they can’t believe in the dogmas, for example that ‘Jesus is the only way’ and that God sends all those who don’t accept this to hell.

And here comes the second reason why the resistance to associate India with Hinduism by Indians is difficult to understand. Hinduism is in a different category from the Abrahamic religions. Its history, compared to Christianity and Islam was undoubtedly the least violent as it spread in ancient times by convincing arguments and not by force. It is not a belief system that demands blind belief in dogmas and the suspension of one’s intelligence. On the contrary, Hinduism encourages using one’s intelligence to the hilt. It is an enquiry into truth, based on a refined (methods are given) character and intellect. It comprises a huge body of ancient literature, not only regarding Dharma and philosophy, but also regarding music, architecture, dance, science, astronomy, economics, politics, etc.

If Germany or any other western country had this kind of literary treasure, it would be so proud and highlight its greatness on every occasion. When I discovered for example the Upanishads, I was stunned. Here was expressed in clear terms what I intuitively had felt to be true, but could not have expressed clearly. Brahman is not partial; it is the invisible, indivisible essence in everything. Everyone gets again and again a chance to discover the ultimate truth and is free to choose his way back to it. Helpful hints are given but not imposed.

 In my early days in India, I thought that every Indian knew and valued his tradition. Slowly I realized that I was wrong. The British colonial masters had been successful in not only weaning away many of the elite from their ancient tradition but even making them despise it. It helped that the ‘educated’ class could no longer read the original Sanskrit texts and believed what the British told them. This lack of knowledge and the brainwashing by the British education may be the reason why many ‘modern’ Indians are against anything ‘Hindu’. They don’t realize the difference between western religions that have to be believed (or at least professed) blindly, and which discourage if not forbid their adherents to think on their own and the multi-layered Hindu Dharma which gives freedom and encourages using one’s intelligence.

Many of the educated class do not realize that on one hand, westerners, especially those who dream to impose their own religion on this vast country, will applaud them for denigrating Hindu Dharma, because this helps western universalism to spread in India. On the other hand, many westerners, including Church people, very well know the value and surreptitiously appropriate insights from the vast Indian knowledge system, drop the original source and present it either as their own or make it look as if these insights had been known in the west.

Rajiv Malhotra of Infinity Foundation has done painstaking research in this field and has documented many cases of “digestion” of Dharma civilization into western universalism. He chose the term digestion, as it implies that that which is being digested (a deer for example) is in the end no longer there, whereas the ‘digester’ (a tiger) becomes stronger. Similarly, Hindu civilization is gradually being depleted of its valuable, exclusive assets and what is left is called inferior.

If only missionaries denigrated Hindu Dharma, it would not be so bad, as they clearly have an agenda which discerning Indians would detect. But sadly, Indians with Hindu names assist them because they wrongly believe that Hinduism is inferior to western religions. They belittle everything Hindu instead of getting thorough knowledge. As a rule, they know little about their tradition except what the British told them, i.e. that the major features are caste system and idol worship. They don’t realize that India would gain, not lose, if it solidly backed its profound and all inclusive Hindu tradition. The Dalai Lama said some time ago that already as a youth in Lhasa, he had been deeply impressed by the richness of Indian thought. “India has great potential to help the world,” he added. When will the westernized Indian elite realize it? 

Are Sharia councils failing vulnerable women?

By Jane Corbin

BBC Panorama has uncovered fresh evidence of how some Sharia councils in Britain may be putting Muslim women "at risk" by pressuring them to stay in abusive marriages.

In a small terraced house in east London, a woman and her husband argue before an Islamic scholar who sits on a dais above them in a room that looks and feels like a court.

This is Leyton Islamic Sharia Council, and Dr Suhaib Hasan will decide if the woman can have a divorce. Her husband is refusing to grant her one and the couple has been coming here for a year.

She accuses him of refusing to work, ignoring the children and verbally abusing her. He vehemently denies it. When Dr Hasan orders the husband to leave the room, the woman breaks down in tears.

"I hate him, I can't even bear to look at him, he has ruined my life," she sobs.

Dr Hasan sends the couple away for another month to try to save their marriage, with the help of Allah.

Fearful women

Leyton Islamic Sharia Council is Britain's oldest Islamic council and one of the most active, hearing about 50 cases a month - mainly marital disputes. Nine out of 10 are brought by Muslim women from all over the country.

With an Islamic marriage, it is far easier for a man to divorce. The only way for women is through these councils.

"We are not here just to issue divorces," says Dr Hasan.

"We want to mediate first. We try to save marriages so when people come to us we try to reconcile them."

But Islamic rulings given here are not always in the interests of the women concerned, and can run counter to British law.

In Leeds I met Sonia, a woman who suffered extreme violence from her husband, who punched and kicked her and threw her down the stairs. He also hit their son. When Sonia got a civil divorce, the courts would allow him only indirect access to the children.

Sharia courts are not allowed to interfere in child access matters, but when Sonia went to Leyton Islamic Sharia Council for a Sharia divorce, they told her she would have to give the children up to her husband.

"I couldn't bear the thought of such a violent person having my children," said Sonia.

"What was shocking was when I explained to them why he shouldn't have that access to the children, their reaction was - well, you can't go against what Islam says."

Sonia stood her ground and eventually got Leyton Islamic Sharia Council to drop their demand.

The council told BBC Panorama that when a marriage ends the question of access to children for both parents is crucial. Safety is paramount, it says, and any UK court order must be followed.

  

We had seen the public face of Leyton Sharia Council, but we sent an undercover reporter to see what advice they would give a vulnerable female client. Her story was that her husband was hitting her.

The government says domestic violence is a crime which should be reported to the police.

But Dr Hasan told the undercover reporter: "The police that is the very, very last resort. If he becomes so aggressive, starts hitting you, punching you of course you have to report it to the police, that is not allowed."

He went on to tell her that reporting the abuse to the police would be a final blow and she would have to leave the house and go to a refuge. He said that was a very "bad option".

His wife, a counsellor at Leyton Islamic Sharia Council, also told the undercover reporter not to go to the police but to involve the family instead.

'Dangerous'

When Leyton Islamic Sharia Council were asked about the secret filming, they said it may be essential to involve the police and other authorities in cases of domestic violence but it can be a step with irrevocable consequences.

We showed our secret footage from Leyton Islamic Sharia Council to Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the North West.

Mr Afzal, himself a Muslim, said: "I'm disappointed but not surprised. Most of them [Sharia councils] are fine but there are some clearly like this who are putting women at risk."

He described what he had seen as "dangerous" because if people were deterred from seeking help they could suffer significant harm.

I met another woman who had tried to get a divorce from a different Sharia council in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Ayesha's husband was in prison for violence, but Dewsbury Sharia Council told her she would have to go to mediation with him.

"I said I can't do that because he's not even allowed near my house and because I am frightened, I can't face him... but they didn't take any notice," she said.

Eventually Dewsbury Sharia Council agreed to see her without her husband but she had to face five men alone without legal representation. It took her two years to get a Sharia divorce.

Dewsbury Sharia Council said they could not comment on individual cases but they were aware of the standing and gravity of UK court orders and would never advise clients to breach them. They said they could arrange separate meetings on different days to avoid such breaches.

The women I spoke to believe it is not the Islamic code that is at fault, but the way some Sharia councils interpret it, and they want them investigated and held accountable.

Although these women eventually freed themselves from unhappy marriages, there are others condemned by religious councils to miserable lives.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22044724

Bangladesh simmers as Islamic conservatives and progressives clash

As popularity of rightwing party Hefazat-e-Islam grows, millions of female garment workers increasingly fear for their jobs

Six mornings a week, Tania Akhter leaves her home in the Banasri Ullah Para neighbourhood in the north of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, for the garments factory where she stitches jackets and trousers to be sold on western high streets. The journey takes the 23-year-old through a simmering city.

Protests and clashes in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country have diminished in recent weeks but with about 100 dead and thousands injured, tensions remain high. A series of "shutdowns" have been enforced by political groups, more are threatened and many fear violence will flare again.

The battle pits religious conservatives against more moderate, progressive voices in a fight to determine the future direction of the country – the world's eighth most populous – 40 years after it won independence from Pakistan in a brutal war.

The most recent development is the emergence of a radical conservative Muslim party, Hefazat-e- Islam, as the standard bearer of the religious right. Earlier this month, at a huge rally in Dhaka attended by more than 100,000 according to police, the party issued 13 demands. They included the introduction of measures to stop "alien culture" making inroads in Bangladesh, the reinstatement of the line "absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah" in the nation's constitution, which is largely secular, and a ban on new statues in public places.

But it was Hefazat-e-Islam's demand that men and women do not mix in public – seen by many as a bid to stop women working outside the home – that most worried Akhter, one of tens of millions of female labourers in Bangladesh's booming garment industry.

"If we are not allowed to work, how will we survive?" asked Akhter, who supports her elderly parents on her monthly wage of 6,500 takas (£55). "Many of our coworkers were abandoned by their husbands. Some families only have daughters, whose parents are old. What will a single mother do? We will not have any means for a living."

Hefazat-e-Islam's demand is opposed by employers too. "There are women in media, defence, and development. There cannot be development [by] keeping half of a population ineffective," Mushrefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers' Unity Forum, told the Guardian.

But beyond the issue of women working are much larger questions. "Although Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country, it is a people's republic, not a Muslim country," said Mishu.

The unrest was initially provoked by the first verdicts passed by the international war crimes tribunal, set up by Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister and daughter of the wartime leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to investigate atrocities committed during the 1971 conflict.

When a group of young moderates in Dhaka demonstrated in the central Shahbag Square, their protest quickly grew into a mass movement demanding accountability and harsh sentences for alleged crimes during the war.

The conflict left up to 3 million people dead. At least 200,000 women were raped while millions fled to neighbouring India.

Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), opposed the independence movement during the 1971 war and worked with the Pakistani army to fight nationalists. It is largely senior officials from JI who have been indicted by the tribunal. Two have been convicted this year.

Religious conservatives, many loyal to JI, took to the streets to counter the Shahbag demonstrators, accusing their leaders of being atheists and blasphemers.

Some of the violence has been explicitly sectarian, with attacks on places of worship of the small Hindu minority. Several activists have been shot dead by the police who routinely use live ammunition to quell protest.

The leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), Khaleda Zia, the widow of the independence war's best-known military commander, has accused Hasina of using the tribunal to hound political enemies.

In turn, Zia has been charged with encouraging and exploiting the rightwing anger. Hefazat-e-Islam are close to JI, which is a key ally of the BNP.

The conservatives say they are victims of a smear campaign and that their aims have been misunderstood. "The idea that Hefazat-e-Islam is taking the country back to the medieval age through its demands is propaganda," said Moinuddin Ruhi, joint secretary of the party. "We are not opposing women's development … Hefazat demands women refrain from free mixing in society to avoid sexual harassment and incidents such as rape. This does not … mean we want them to refrain from going to work or study. They should go to work and study following the principles of Islam."

Akhter countered that she and her female colleagues were "responsible enough to protect our own prestige and self-respect".

Hefazat-e-Islam officials say they will "besiege" Dhaka next month if the government does not agree to their demands.

There are fears that the pressure from the conservatives is having an effect. Shortly after officials said their demands would be considered last week, police detained four bloggers who are seen as sympathetic to the Shahbag movement and critical of Islamists on charges of "hurting religious sentiment".

In Bangladesh, defaming a religion on the internet can carry a 10-year jail sentence. One of Hefazat-e-Islam's principal demands is that the death penalty be imposed in such circumstances.

Pinaki Bhattacharya, a blogger and online activist, describes the arrests as unacceptable. "I believe we should not unnecessarily hurt someone's beliefs. I believe everybody should be sensible. Everybody should have their own sense of responsibility and they should not indulge into things which might create unrest and trouble in society," said Pinaki.

Police in Bangladesh have also arrested the acting editor of Amar Desh, a pro-opposition newspaper, on several charges, including sedition. Mahmudur Rahman of the Bengali-language publication was detained in a raid on his office in Dhaka, said a city police official Masudur Rahman.

The arrest has concerned local journalists. Nurul Kabir, editor-in-chief of Bangladesh's popular English daily New Age, said: "I have serious disagreement with the editorial policy of Mahmudur Rahman and the most of the contents that his paper Amar Desh disseminates, but I have no doubt that the government has arrested him primarily because of his active support for the opposition political camps. In a democratic dispensation, this is unacceptable."

Elections are due in Bangladesh later this year or early in 2014.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/16/bangladesh-hefazat-e-islam-women#_

Boy, 8, one of 3 killed in bombings at Boston Marathon; scores wounded

Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Monday night that the death toll had risen to three. Scores were injured at the scene. One of the dead was an 8-year-old boy, according to a state law enforcement source.Hospitals reported at least 144 people are being treated, with at least 17 of them in critical condition and 25 in serious condition. At least eight of the patients are children.

At least 10 people injured had limbs amputated, according to a terrorism expert briefed on the investigation.

Several of the patients treated at Massachusetts General Hospital suffered injuries to lower limbs that will require "serial operations" in the coming days, trauma surgeon Peter Fagenholz said Monday night. Some injuries were so severe amputations were necessary, Fagenholz added.

 In Washington, President Barack Obama vowed, "Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."

Boston "is a tough and resilient town," he said, adding that Americans will stand by Bostonians "every single step of the way."

'Like a huge cannon'

The terrorist attack, near the marathon's finish line, triggered widespread screaming and chaos, shattered windows and barricades and sent smoke billowing into the air at Copley Square. The blasts were about 50 to 100 yards apart, officials said, on a stretch of the marathon course lined with spectators cheering runners through the final yards of a 26-mile, 385-yard endurance feat.

"It felt like a huge cannon," a witness told CNN about one of the blasts.

Allan Panter, a doctor who was near the finish line waiting for his wife to finish the race, told CNN he was standing about 20 to 25 feet from the first blast. He said he treated victims on the street after the explosion.

"I saw at least six to seven people down next to me," he said. "They protected me from the blast. One lady expired. One gentleman lost both his (lower) limbs. Most of the injuries were lower extremities."

 Bill Iffrig, 78 and a veteran marathoner, was nearing the finish when "the shock waves just hit my whole body and my legs just started jittering around." Iffrig, who can be seen in video of the explosion wearing an orange tank top, was helped to his feet by an event volunteer and had just a scratch from his fall, he told CNN.

Federal authorities are classifying the bombings as a terrorist attack, but it's not clear whether the origin was domestic or foreign, a federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said.

A federal law enforcement official told CNN that both bombs were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive material, suggesting that the packages used in the attack were crude explosive devices.

Another explosive device found

Authorities in Boston found at least one other explosive device that they were dismantling, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts, meanwhile, said two more were found.

One unexploded device was found at a hotel on Boylston Street near the bomb site and another unexploded device was found at an undisclosed location, Keating, a Democrat and member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said. He called the bombing a "sophisticated, coordinated, planned attack."

 It was unclear who may have planted the marathon bombs. There were no credible threats before the race, a state government official said.

There is no suspect in custody, but many people are being questioned, Davis said.

Investigators warned police to be on the lookout for a "darker-skinned or black male" with a possible foreign accent in connection with the attack, according to a law enforcement advisory obtained by CNN. The man was seen with a black backpack and sweatshirt and was trying to get into a restricted area about five minutes before the first explosion, the lookout notice states.

Also, a Saudi national with a leg wound was under guard at a Boston hospital in connection with the bombings, but investigators cannot say he is involved at this time and he is not in custody, a law enforcement official said Monday evening.

In addition to scrutinizing images of surveillance cameras in the area, the FBI likely was issuing subpoenas for records from cell towers in the area to isolate and trace calls from around Copley Square at the time of the blasts, according to a former federal law enforcement official who now works in the intelligence community.

 The unexploded devices that were recovered could provide a treasure trove of information such as fingerprints and indications of the bomb maker's design, and from the bombs that did explode, investigators would be looking for fragments and anything indicating the "signature" of the bomb makers, the official told CNN.

As authorities searched the scene, numerous suspicious packages were found, possibly because people fled the area, leaving items behind. Investigators were checking them.

All off-duty Boston police were called in.

The Marriott hotel at Copley Place was evacuated as a precaution.

The Lenox Hotel was also evacuated as a precaution, the Boston Globe reported.

 'Horrific day'

Crowds were in the area watching the runners take part in the world's oldest annual marathon.

It was also Patriots Day, commemorating the opening battle of the Revolutionary War.

Within seconds, the festive occasion turned into devastation.

"This is a horrific day in Boston," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement.

"My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured. I have been in touch with the president, Mayor (Thomas) Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke with FBI Director Robert Mueller and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, a Justice Department official said. Holder has directed the full resources of the Justice Department to be deployed to ensure the matter is fully investigated, the official said.

The Federal Aviation Administration placed a flight restriction over the site of the blasts.

Other cities, including New York and Washington, tightened security as a result. Following standard protocol, the White House cleared out an area in front of the West Wing.

Mike Baingon, who works at the Atlantic Fish Company in Boston, said an explosion took place in front of the restaurant and that he was right by the front door at the time.

The explosions occurred at about 2:45 p.m., more than two hours after the first of the race's nearly 27,000 runners had crossed the finish line, CNN Producer Matt Frucci reported.

The race was halted as was subway service into the area.

Troops from the Massachusetts National Guard, already at the site as part of the marathon's security and crowd-management plan, were assisting police as well.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/boston-marathon-explosions/index.html

Remembering the last hero of Chittagong uprising

Benode Behari Chowdhury, the last warrior of the Chittagong uprising of 1930-34 passed away last Wednesday night (April 10) at the age of 104 in a hospital in Kolkata. The passing of this legendary figure comes at a time when Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan are facing a renewed wave of persecution and West Bengal is witnessing the growth and expansion of Islamist forces which feel a greater connect to the razakars and the Jamaat of Bangladesh than to their own fellow citizens in the state.

Throughout his long, active and eventful life Benode Behari essentially fought against such disruptive forces and indefatigably championed the cause of the Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. Till the very end he remained concerned and disturbed at the fact that the Hindus of Bangladesh were being squeezed out by radical elements and that pro-Pakistan elements were on the ascendancy in the country.  Around a decade ago, when the BNP-led four-party alliance of which the Jamaat and its rabidly anti-Hindu leaders were the leading lights, was in power in Bangladesh, Benode Behari, at the advanced age of 93, had protested their treatment of the minorities in the country.

As early as 1972, when anti-Hindu attacks rocked newly liberated Bangladesh, Benode Behari’s advise to Sheikh Mujeeb was indeed crucial, he had warned the President that “he would not remain in power if Pakistani elements were not checked.” He clearly saw that these elements would never reconcile themselves to the emergence of a new Bangladesh which wanted to be free from the asphyxiating yoke of a wahabised Islam while yearning to forge a new religio-cultural identity for itself. Bangladesh today remains locked in an epic struggle between these forces of destruction and betrayal and those who yearn to go back to the original vision and ideals of the liberation movement.

When not yet 20, Benode Behari had thrown in his lot with Surya Sen – Masterda – the leader and ideologue of the Chittagong uprising. Passionately moved by the “golden dream – the dream of a free India” as his leader described it, Benode Behari braved British bullets – a bullet pierced his neck – and participated in raising the banner of armed revolt against the mighty Empire in far off Chittagong by declaring it liberated territory. Young Benode was transported to prison in distant Rajputana and then incarcerated in a deserted camp. The prolonged episode which had galvanised the entire area and other revolutionary movements across the subcontinent had badly shaken the Empire, till then firmly ensconced in its belief of invincibility. Yet the episode is neither remembered today in India – where empty chairs at the screening of Chittagong demonstrated the general apathy towards such riveting episodes of our history, nor in Bangladesh were Benode Behari would lament that in some quarters Surya Sen continued to be described “as a dacoit, a Hindu leader!” In fact, Bangladesh and India are yet to erect a suitable memorial to the martyrs of that uprising.

After partition, Benode Behari stayed on in East Pakistan and during a particularly dangerous time emerged as a rallying point for the minorities of that half of Pakistan. Steadfastly remaining in Chittagong, which over the years developed into a hotbed of radical elements including the Jamaat, Benode Behari remained unscathed and succeeded in organising the Hindus of the district. One of the then leading papers in Chittagong Azad had, pouring vitriol, proclaimed in early 1950 (February 8-9) that the “Real enemies of Pakistan are Hindus” and that “Hindus are not reliable.” It was against such odds that Benode Behari struggled for the rights, protection and dignity of his co-religionists and of other minorities of East Pakistan. Eventually, it was largely due to his efforts that Hindus in Chittagong became an important bloc in the region’s local politics.

Each time a compromise was made with Islamic fundamentalist forces, Benode Behari came out openly condemning the turn. He did not spare the Awami League either which had its phases of infatuation with the “Khelafatists”, as happened in 2006 when it came to an agreement with the fundamentalist Khelafat Majlish and agreed to support the issuance of fatwas by alems when it came to power.

Benode Behari Chowdhury’s life thus had two distinct parts, both of them revolutionary and full of struggle. The early part was a struggle against the idea and manifestations of an empire and the second was a ceaseless battle against a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalist consolidation and in support of efforts for protection of the Hindu voice in a continuously shrinking religio–political space in the land of his birth. He never considered the option of migrating, for a warrior that option was not even the last one, it never existed.

His example needs urgent and dedicated emulation across all parts of Bengal today, but does the Bengali Hindu bhadralok have time and tenacity for it?

Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2013/04/12/remembering-a-warrior-and-a-hero-65221.html

From the heart of a Muslim - by Tawfik Hamid .....

I was born as a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam.

After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by  my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and  after  the  too many  violent acts by Islamists in many parts of  the world, I feel responsible as aMuslim  and as a human being,  to speak out  and tell the truth to protect the world  and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations. 

I  have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence  and hatred toward Non-Muslims. 
  

We Muslims are the ones who need to change. Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, 

and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions. We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia. 
 
We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non-Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques. 

  

What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys"..

 Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate? 
  

I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims.

 While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them.

  

We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to  defend Prophet Mohammed when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old. 
  

  I  am sad to say that many,  if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks. 
  

Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathize with their cause.   
   
Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Shariia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam. 
  

Muslims  demonstrated  to get more religious rights as  we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders. 
  

It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts .   
 
We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East . 
  

  We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings. 
 
In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men,  and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel. 
  

It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel , its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening. 

  

We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind.  Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, 

pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men and declaring wars on  non-Muslims to spread Islam. 

Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion.

The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'. 

Tawfik Hamid

(Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Some twenty-five years ago, he recognized the threat of Radical Islam and the need for a reformation based upon modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts.)