Bangladesh: ISKCON says it backs Chinmoy Krishna Das’ call for protecting Hindus

Amid the row over the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh on the charges of sedition, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on Thursday, 28 November, said it backs the cause for which Das stands while seeking re-establishment of an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence with minorities in the neighbouring nation.

In a statement, the ISCKON wrote: "ISKCON has not, and does not distance itself from supporting Chinmoy Krishna Das's rights and freedom for peacefully calling for protecting Hindus and their places of worship. We also support, along with all other sanatani groups, protection and safety of Hindus, and re-establishing an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence with minorities in Bangladesh. Many of our press statements and interviews have made this fully clear. We have only clarified, something that was already said by us in the past many months, regarding him not officially representing ISKCON in Bangladesh."

Chinmoy Krishna, also known as Krishna Prabhu Das, was taken into custody by the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday evening.

Chinmoy Krishna was not only associated with the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajot (BJHM), a grand national alliance of 23 religious organisations in the country but also with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

As the news about Chinmoy Krishna's arrest spread on social media, several protests broke out in Chittagong, demanding his immediate release.

It was reported that protesters marched and rallied at the Cheragi intersection in the city, chanting slogans and demanding his release.

Several videos that went viral on social media late Monday evening showed Bangladeshi policemen targeting the protestors who were marching towards the Cheragi intersection.

The incidents of vandalism, looting, arson, land grabbing, and threats to leave the country have been repeatedly inflicted on the Hindu community after the interim government was sworn in on August 8 under the leadership of Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.

The Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad had earlier sent an 'open letter' to Yunus, expressing "profound sorrow and concern" over a particular group's "unprecedented violence" against the minorities.

Earlier, strongly condemning the "tortures" inflicted on common people by the interim government in Bangladesh that is headed by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday called for immediate release of Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesperson of the Bangladesh Sanatan Jagaran Mancha and head of Pundarik Dham, who has been jailed in Chittagong.

"A top leader of the Sanatan religious community has been unjustly arrested, he must be released immediately," Hasina, who was forced to leave the country after the so-called 'Anti-Discrimination Student Movement' in August, said in a statement.

As the shocking development continues to invite severe backlash from Hindus all over the world, Hasina spotlighted several incidents of persecution of members of minority communities that have been reported from across 52 districts in Bangladesh since her resignation on 5 August, this year.

"A temple has been burnt in Chittagong. Previously, mosques, shrines, churches, monasteries and houses of the Ahmadiyya community were attacked, vandalised and looted and set on fire. Religious freedom and security of life and property of people of all communities should be ensured," she stated.

"After the killing of innumerable Awami League leaders and workers, students and members of the law and order forces, harassment is going on through assaults and arrests. I strongly condemn and protest against these anarchist activities," Hasina added.

Meanwhile, the controversial head priest of Dasna Devi temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, Yati Narsinghanand Giri, on Thursday expressed deep anger over the alleged genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh, calling upon the Hindus in India to learn from the condition of their counterparts in the neighbouring country.

A three-day "Dharma Sansad" is being organised at the Anand Bhairav Mandir by the Juna Akhara from 19-21 December to raise the issue, Narasighanand said, as he appealed to all Hindus who do not want their future generations to "fall prey to Islamic Jihadis" to participate in the event.

Releasing a video with Kothari Srimahant Mahakal Giri of the Juna Akhara and other saints, Narasighanand claimed that the Muslim community in Bangladesh, in connivance with the army and police, is carrying out gruesome massacres of Hindus.

"By imprisoning innocent Chinmay Das Prabhu from the ISKCON, the Bangladesh government has shown the Hindus of the entire world their place. If any country had done the same to a Jew, Israel would have attacked that nation by now. If we Hindus also had a nation of our own, their plight in Pakistan and Bangladesh would not have been like this," claimed Narasighanand, who had been booked for hate speech in the past.

"Had the movement for Ram Mandir been for a Sanatan Vedic Rashtra, we wouldn't have to worry about 'love jihad', cow protection, Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, Kashi Vishwanath or Sambhal, because we would have got all these. But we never raised our voice against the real problems," he claimed.