Raising slogans like “We want Justice” and “Protect Hindus”, a large number of Indian Americans held a protest march on Monday from the White House to the US Capitol over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.
The demonstrators urged the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to ask the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh to take steps to protect Hindus and action against those responsible for this.
The peaceful march was organized by StopHinduGenocide.org, Bangladeshi Diaspora organizations and HinduACTion.
The demonstrators demanded that the companies in the US stop buying garments from Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on its exports to the US.
“This march is not just a cry for justice; it is a demand for accountability. Today, the Bangladeshi Hindu community and the larger Hindu diaspora from the Indian subcontinent has come in support of the Bangladesh Hindu community because there is continuing violence going on in Bangladesh, specifically in Chittagong and Rangpur area, as well as in some other parts of the country,” said Utsav Chakrabarti, from HinduACTion.
“Hindus are being targeted, their temples are being burnt down and destroyed. Their houses are being looted. Chinmoy Das, who is one of the Hindu leaders in the Chittagong area, has been incarcerated and is facing torture,” Chakrabarti said.
He further said, “The community around the world is extremely worried about it. So, people are trying to make sure that the White House and people in America are aware of what’s going on in Bangladesh.”
Mohinder Gulati, president of Global Hindu Temple Network, said that the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh are an attack against this minority community.
He asserted that Bangladesh should be debarred from sending peacekeeping forces to other countries.
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He said, “We have also written to the United Nations Human Rights Organisation, UN Women, and UNICEF that all the international obligations that Bangladesh has, that they should be held accountable for those obligations.”
