Priya Saha vis-à-vis ulterior motive
Like a bolt from the blue a rather unfamiliar name, Mrs. Priya Saha, hit the headlines of print and electronic media across the globe the content of which gave many people a stupefying bewilderment. Even though she spoke of lack of safety of the monority people in Bangladesh, the situation is otherwise — communal harmony prevails in Bangladesh. What is enigmatic to some extent, Rana Dashgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad (BHBCOP), said he was not aware how Priya went to the US and reached Trump and disavows her statement.
It was very judicious and perceptive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to calm down the volatile situation; the PM disapproved a planned government initiative to expose Priya Saha to sedition charges ahead of obtaining her explanation about her comments during the interaction with US president Donald Trump.
Earlier the government said there seemed to be an ulterior motive behind what Priya Saha told Donald Trump recently. Priya, one of the organising secretaries of BHBCOP, told the US president that 37 million Hindu, Buddhist and Christian people have disappeared from Bangladesh. Priya also told the president that her land had been grabbed by Muslim fundamentalists and sought his help so that Hindu, Buddhist and Christian people could live in Bangladesh.
But impatience got the better of no other person than the second man in the ruling Awami League party hierarchy — Obaidul Quader. On July 21, he found ill motive behind Priya Biswas Saha’s remarks and said she would be sued for sedition.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Priya must prove her “allegations” adding that “otherwise stern actions will be taken against her for the baseless, false and fabricated complaints.” Asked about the allegations, the home boss said, “I didn’t see any such incidents over the last five and a half years. I don’t know why she made such false statements to the US president. She may have a purpose. Before the last caretaker government’s tenure, Hindu people constituted more than 8 percent of the population. Now it has risen to 10 percent.”
Having the welfare of the minority communities of the country as its objective, The BHBCUC was initially founded in 1975 in Dhaka to protect the human rights of the religious and ethnic minorities of Bangladesh. It was officially estsblished on 9 June 1988 by Maj. Gen. (Retd) Chitta Ranjan Dutta when Islam was declared as State Religion with Eighth Amendment Act of the Constitution of Bangladesh by the late dictator Lt.Gen. H M Ershad. Ershad also attempted to bring about changes in the education sector. In 1983 he announced that along with Islamiat, Arabic would also be studied as a compulsory subject. This could not be implemented due to opposition from the students and political parties. However, he encouraged Madrassa (Islamic schools) education and put it on par with the corresponding level of general education.
The BHBCUC leaders, Rana Dasgupta and Kajal Debnath, It is clear that Priya Saha has acted maybe like a renegade, deciding on her own to attend the White House intraction beyond the knowledge of the office bearers of BHBCUC betraying her organization. Whether or not there is an ulterior motive behind this disturbing drama deserves to be comprehensively scrutinized. Are some quarters trying to fish in muddy water?
The subcontinent has witnessed innumerable incidents of religious violence since the days of Emperor Ashoka who ruled India from c.?268 to 232 BCE. While M J Akbar’s “Riot After Riot and India: The Siege Within” is a study on this subject, Wikipedia gives a detailed list of riots in modern India. Back in 1930 riots broke out in Dhaka, and a major riot occurred in 1941 near Nsarsinghdi in greater Dhaka district. The Great Calcutta Killings of 1946 was a day of widespread communal rioting between Hindus and Muslims in Kolkata. Priya Saha cannot be ignorant of this agonizing horrific history of religious disharmony; but most regrettably she chose to highlight it at the White House to impress upon Ptersident Donald Trump the minority situation.
After identifying herself as a Bangladeshi, she was seen in a news video clip telling President Donald Trump that 37 million people of minority groups have disappeared from Bangladesh. She also told the president that her land had been grabbed by Muslim fundamentalists and sought his help so that minority groups could live peacefully in Bangladesh.
How was she selected by the US Embassy in Dhaka for the event? A news agency asked those questions to the US Embassy in Dhaka. They did not make any specific reply, but said the United States invited members of religious communities, civil society, and government officials from 106 countries to participate in the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held July 16 – 18 in Washington. In the meantime Ambassador Earl Miller has visited mosques, temples, churches and monasteries across Bangladesh. The embassy said: “In his wide-ranging travel across a remarkable nation whose constitution upholds religious freedom, he has seen how people of different faiths can and must work together to protect the rights we hold dear.”
Meanwhile a more worrisome video content should irate every patriot of this country. The culprit is one Saniur Rahman. Led by Imran H Sarker, the Ganajagaran Mancha had been staging protests at the intersection of the capital in February 2013 demanding capital punishment to all who committed crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Liberation. One of the first 26 persons who organized the Mancha, Saniur Rahman spread blatant lies about Bangladesh and told Indian TV channel Chobbish Ghanta that Indian Army should launch attack on Bangladeshi “pro-Arab imperialist Muslim fundamentalists”; govt is not taking action. Saniur suggested that, because Bangladesh was part of Bharat, so Bangladesh as India’s daughter should unify with India—India-Bangla border wall should be dismantled in the manner the Berlin Wall knocked down. [Vide Manzoor’s Investigation: https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z0-EHhOTWg; Jul 22, 2019 ]
This might be a devastating intrigue against national sovereignty to say the least, about which the Government should think with due sriousness.
