Being Hindu in Islamic Bangladesh.

BOOK REVIEW

Being Hindu in Bangladesh : The Untold Story.

Hindu women can’t marry Muslim men in Bangladesh. Couple must declare they’re atheists first….. The book ‘Being Hindu in Bangladesh’, by Deep Halder and Avishek Biswas, published by Harper Collins is a result of their extensive research to find the truth behind the statistics on atrocities against Hindus in the Muslim-majority state. 

HENB

For those who carry the scars of Partition, more than seven decades after arbitrary lines scarred the subcontinent, home is still on the other side of the Padma river. They pine for those who were left behind as a great mass of humanity moved from the east to the west of Bengal to settle in Hindu-majority India. Where are they today in the land that was then east Bengal, which became East Pakistan in 1947, and then Bangladesh in 1971?

According to an estimate from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there were 17 million Hindus in Bangladesh in 2015, though the population is steadily dwindling. Hindus in Bangladesh in the late 2000s were almost evenly distributed in all regions of the country, with large concentrations in Gopalganj, Dinajpur, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Mymensingh, Khulna, Jessore, Chittagong and parts of Chittagong’s Hill Tracts. Since the rise of Islamist political formations in the country during the 1990s, many Hindus have been threatened or attacked, and substantial numbers are leaving the country for India still.

Despite their dwindling numbers, Hindus wield considerable influence because of their geographical concentration in certain regions of the country. They form a majority of the electorate in at least two parliamentary constituencies and account for more than 25% in at least another thirty.

For this reason, they are often the deciding factor in parliamentary elections where victory margins can be extremely narrow. It is also alleged that this is a prime reason for many Hindus being prevented from voting in elections, either through intimidating voters, or through exclusion in voter list revisions.

In Being Hindu in Bangladesh, journalist Deep Halder and academic Avishek Biswas explore the ground realities behind the statistics. Through extensive research in Bangladesh and using archival material and records, they attempt to sift out the truth behind the numbers. Their aim is to find out the lived experience of those who stayed on in the country, and ask important questions about the nature of identity, its connection with religion, and ultimately, the very idea of ‘home’.

An excerpt from the book: 

“Interfaith love in today’s Bangladesh is as flawed as the Special Marriage Act under which couples like us have to get married.

“In Bangladesh family laws, including laws concerning marriage, are mostly regulated by the religious laws of the concerned individual. The legal column ‘Your Advocate’ in The Daily Star newspaper explained this to a Muslim man who wanted to marry his Hindu lover:

“As your friend is Muslim, Muslim law will regulate his marriage-related issues and Hindu law will apply for the girl belonging to Hinduism. In accordance with Islamic Law, a Muslim male is permitted to marry any girl who is a follower of any Kitaab (scripturalist), e.g. Muslim, Christian, or Jew, but marriage to polytheists and idol or fire worshippers (e.g. Hindus) are not allowed under the Islamic law. As such, if they keep their respective religious beliefs, unfortunately, such marriage is not permitted within the existing legal framework of the country.

“Although two adults belonging to two different religions can get married under the Special Marriage Act 1872, they have to declare themselves as non-believer (atheists) before the marriage is solemnized.

“When a marriage is solemnized under this Special Marriage Act, the bride and the bridegroom have to sign a Declaration which reads: ‘I do not profess the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina religion’ or (as the case may be) ‘I profess the Hindu, or the Buddhist, or the Sikh or the Jaina religion’. It is noteworthy that if the female partner declares that she is a Hindu, it will not be possible for her to marry a Muslim male, as the religion Islam is not mentioned in the second part of the Declaration.”

It is evident that how Hindus are entrapped in enforced law for converting themselves to Islam or declaring achiest for their marriage with any Muslim male or female. 

This book is an concurrent record on the havoc atrocities and persecution upon Minority Hindus in Islamic Bangladesh

Author Deep Halder has been a journalist for more than twenty years, writing on issues of development at the intersection of religion, caste and politics. He is the author of Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre (2019) and Bengal 2021: An Election Diary (2021).

And author Avishek Biswas is Assistant Professor of English literature at Vidyasagar College, Calcutta University. He has a PhD from Jadavpur University, and works on oral narratives of Partition history.

The book can directly be purchased online from Harper Collins or from Amazon otherwise.

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