What makes Bangladesh (or Bengal as a whole) such an amazing place is the history of coherence among its people. Even after being ruled by numerous emperors, rules of different religions, and colonial attempts to divide people based on religion, people have always been very accommodating of each other. In times of crisis, they fought hand-in-hand, as brothers of the land.
The key to the camaraderie between the people of this region was tolerance. There had been terrible violence in the past, but as the years went by, the bonding only got stronger, and Bengal was always a safe home to people from all sets of beliefs, faiths, and ways of life. However, a plethora of recent incidents raise the question, “What happened to the teaching of tolerance? Where did it all go wrong? Was it really supposed to be like this?”
A picture of a legal notice from Uttara, Dhaka has been circulating the social media for the last couple of days, where the complainants claim that the preparation of Durga Puja in the Friends’ Club field of Uttara makes the “hearts of local Muslims bleed”, and is a hindrance to the life of other local Muslims.
Durga Puja has always been more than just a ritual reserved for the Hindu community. It is an integral part of the Bengali culture as well.
A festival of shining lights, spellbinding art, and scrumptious food. A festival that welcomes not only people of all sorts but also leaves a very powerful social message.
Durga is the epitome of divinity and holiness. She’s the incarnation of the greatest gods of Hinduism, a spirit from the Ganga that was given its shape by the greatest gods of Hindu mythology. The god of everything that’s good to fight against evil. As the goddess, she kills Mahishashur, an entity that was once deemed too powerful to be defeated. As the protests against rape and sexual harassment have been a raging issue, Durga can be a source of power and hope for the people working for a change. While the rage against the puja and the Hindu community is hard to see, we can’t pass this off as an isolated case or something out of the blue.
On 21st October, two people were arrested from the district of Faridpur after vandalizing the idols of Hindu gods and goddesses made especially for the Puja. In 2017, a group of unidentified men burned down Hindu establishments before the start of the Durga Puja. It’s not just Faridpur- incidents like these are happening all over Bangladesh. The attack on Buddhist monasteries of Ramu, Cox’s Bazaar, or the vandalism of a temple with the remains of a cow in Chittagong in 2019 is still afresh in our memory. Other than that, the sheer disrespect towards minorities and their culture, the constant jeers towards these people on social media, and belittling their achievements is something that really puts a strain on everything we stood for.
We can’t address the current problems without discussing the history of religion in this region. Even though Bengal was predominantly Hindu, the spread of Islam started during the 12th century. Back then, the caste system of Hinduism made life significantly harder for the lower-caste Hindus; they were treated as second-class citizens, they had no right to education and a lot of other basic requirements of living. That’s where Islam arrived, with the message of equality, where the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor would be considered as equal human beings and everyone deserved equal rights. Women had rights to both father’s and husband’s property. There was no caste system and the spiritual gain mattered more than material gains. Islam welcomed people with open arms and gave them a new lease on life. With Muslim leaders taking over the throne, from Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khalji to the Mughal Empire, Islam had its influence on the people in a very short time.
Even though Islam had always been the religion of the majority in Bangladesh, the people of this land had always emphasized the co-existence of all the communities.
Rabindranath, Lalon Shah, was just as revered as any Muslim poet. People adhered to their religious doctrines but would make sure their actions weren’t troubling someone else. Then why did we end up like this?
Religion has always played a vital role in politics. Resorting to populist demands and providing the majority with a false sense of superiority is a great way to keep the ballots full and the people distracted from actual issues. Furthermore, the advent of social media has played a key role in spreading intolerance. The lack of media literacy of the common people, paired with access to cheap internet, helped spread propaganda, incomplete religious teachings taken out of context among the common people. Knowingly or unknowingly, people indulged in the spread of hate, and the lack of moral education in the curriculum didn’t help either.
All of this trickled down to the current situation where speaking against intolerance is riskier than hurting people’s sentiments en masse.
So, the question arises , where does this end? How do we deal with the problems before things go out of hands?
Addressing these issues is an uphill climb, but we have to start from scratch. The first and most important step is to learn. Learn to be calm whenever there’s a difference in opinion. Learn to be open to new opinions and have your decisions changed.
The first message the Almighty sent to the prophet(PBUH) through Jibrail (A) was Iqra (read). Gather as much knowledge as you can, both about your religion and the communities around you. If you come across a saying or incident on social media that seems too harsh, gather information about it. Search for the context and the implications of that specific verse. Reach out to scholars to learn instead of resorting to social media. If you see people in your circles being intolerant towards other beliefs, educate them. This isn’t easy, but this is the bare minimum. No policy changes or the inaction of laws will change our situation if we don’t address the problems ourselves and put an end to the intolerance that’s growing.
The new normal has made us accustomed to a lot of new things, also making us realize how hard isolation and living inside our own bubbles can be. And as seen on the legal notice, if the pandemic is used as a shield to justify religious intolerance and injustice, are we really going in the right direction?