Hindus in Chattogram denounce Foreign Minister Momen’s ‘lies’ about communal violence

A black flag march followed a protest meeting that condemned the foreign minister’s words

The Hindu community of Chattogram has held a rally to protest against Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen’s “lies” about the torture of the religious minority in Bangladesh.

Momen was chief guest at a Janmashtami celebration, which marks the birth of Lord Krishna, at the port city’s Jatra Mohan Sen Hall grounds on Thursday.

A procession with black flags was taken out after a gathering held concurrent to the celebration programme at Cheragi Pahar intersection.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council, said: “We are partners in the programme organised by the Sree Sree Janmashtami Udjapan Parishad Bangladesh. We want this arrangement to succeed.”

“But we’ve noticed that Foreign Minister Momen has repeatedly said that there had been no communal violence in Bangladesh. He’s always spread this overseas…”

Dasgupta warned the government against spreading “such lies” about communal oppression and called on everyone to refrain from inviting “people like Momen” to religious discussions.

He mentioned that upon being asked about minority repression after travelling abroad following the last Durga Puja, Momen had dismissed everything as “false publicity”. He did the same during his visit to New Delhi.

The foreign minister also claimed that the government had sponsored 35,000 Durga Puja celebrations. But these are all “plain lies”, Dasgupta added.

“He’s not yet apologised to us, to the nation for his lies. When he arrived at Chattogram, it angered the people here and they are protesting now. We simply can’t accept his coming here today. But our protest is against what he said and it is a part of a long-running struggle over the rights of minorities.”

‘MY WORDS WERE TWISTED’

Reacting to the protests, Momen said his words were twisted at the rally.

He had refuted claims of attacks on Hindus in Kurigram because he had initially been unaware of the incident. In Cumilla, he said, there were reports of rape of many Hindu women, but later the allegations were found to be untrue.

“Many call me a broker for India, these things happen but I don’t oppose them strongly. But I, too, have a parliamentary seat. What I did was driven by my conscience. But my words were twisted before you heard about it.”

The minister from the Sylhet-1 constituency mentioned how the government repaired houses attacked during these incidents while recompensing the victims financially.

“I went to India and said Sheikh Hasina must stay [in power]. Only then will the country make progress and become a truly non-sectarian country. I asked them to do everything to make that happen.”

He thinks that the country is “facing conspiracy” as it did in 1975. People from different quarters are trying to create “instability by spreading words within and outside the country”.

The latest remarks come days after Momen’s “living in heaven” comment had sparked outrage and drew another explanation from him.