India backs ISKCON amid Bangladesh crackdown

New Delhi: India on Friday threw its weight behind the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) even as the interim government of Bangladesh froze the bank accounts of 17 people associated with the organisation in the neighbouring country, including the incarcerated monk Chinmoy Krishna Das.

New Delhi reminded the interim government led by economist Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka of its responsibility to protect all minority communities, including the Hindus, in Bangladesh.

“We see ISKCON as a globally well-regarded organisation with a strong record of social service,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), told journalists in New Delhi. He was replying to the questions on India’s views on the clamour by some radical organisations in Bangladesh to ban the Hindu spiritual organisation founded by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda in New York City in 1966.

New Delhi also dismissed the attempts by the interim government in Dhaka to play down the atrocities on the minority communities, including the Hindus, in Bangladesh.

“We are concerned at the surge of extremist rhetoric, increasing incidents of violence and provocation. These developments cannot be dismissed only as media exaggeration,” the MEA spokesperson said in New Delhi.

It was after Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was earlier associated with the ISKCON, was arrested by Bangladesh Police in Chittagong that the spiritual organisation came under focus in the neighbouring country. Das emerged as one of the frontline leaders of the protests by the Hindus of Bangladesh against atrocities on the minority community over the past few months since the collapse of the erstwhile Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina on August 5 this year.

Das was arrested on Monday for allegedly disrespecting the national flag of Bangladesh during a rally to protest the persecution of the Hindus and other religious minority communities.

“India has consistently and strongly raised with the Bangladesh government the threats and targeted attacks on Hindus and other minorities. Our position on the matter is clear – the interim government must live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities,” Jaiswal told journalists, conveying New Delhi’s strong message to Dhaka.

Police fired teargas shells and baton-charged the protesters agitating against the arrest of Das, the spokesperson of the Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatan Jagaran Jote, as well as against the rejection of his bail plea by a court in Chittagong on Tuesday.

An advocate, Saiful Islam Halif, was killed during the clash between police and protesters. The death of the advocate triggered a fresh wave of attacks on the Hindus, not only in Chittagong but also in other places in Bangladesh.

The High Court in Bangladesh rejected the plea for the ban on ISKCON after the interim government’s attorney-general had urged the court not to take any decision as the government had started taking appropriate actions. ISKCON welcomed the rejection of the petition.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh and other such radical organisations demanded that the ISKCON should be declared an extremist organisation and banned. Rizwana Hasan, an advisor – equivalent to ministers – in the interim regime, said in Dhaka that no discussion had been held within the government to ban the ISKCON.

But the Financial Intelligence Unit of the government of Bangladesh asked the banks to freeze the accounts of Das and 16 other people associated or formerly associated with the ISKCON. It also launched a probe into the transactions in the frozen bank accounts.

Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari, general secretary of ISKCON Bangladesh, had on Thursday clarified that Chinmoy Krishna Das had been removed from all positions within the religious organisation long ago due to violations of organizational discipline. The ISKCON Bangladesh reiterated it on Friday, but added that it had not distanced from Chinmay Krishna Das’s rights and freedom for peacefully calling for protecting Hindus and their places of worship.