Minority protection is no minor matter

It's becoming increasingly difficult to believe Dhaka's characterisation of minorities (read: Hindus) being targeted in Bangladesh as an 'exaggeration' that needn't worry the neighbourhood. With the arrest this week of an Iskcon priest for allegedly hoisting a saffron flag above the national flag in Chattogram, and then his being denied bail on sedition charges, sounds like the kind of targeted repression that South Asia has turned into a mini-industry. On Thursday, thankfully, Dhaka high court declined to issue a suo motu order to ban Iskcon's activities in Bangladesh, even as the organisation distanced itself from the arrested person who is reportedly a vocal critic of the recent reported attacks on Hindus under the watch of Muhammad Yunus-run interim government. He is not the only voice of deep concern among Bangladesh's Hindus.

Sedition laws have no place in modern democracies. Real decolonisation means junking them, as they allow governments and prosecutors to weaponise them against their own citizens. Their presence in any nation is a signal of diminished democracy and freedom, something that comes hand in hand with perversely describing attacks on minority groups, including those along religious lines, as 'fringe' activities that needn't worry anyone.

Targeting of minorities is unacceptable in any democracy. New Delhi should drive this home to Dhaka by rallying other democratic, secular voices. Finger-wagging alone is unlikely to work, considering Bangladesh may well use the 'pot calling the kettle black' principle to underplay its lack of concern for communal build-up in its own backyard. A multilateral approach would be more pragmatic to get Bangladesh to not succumb to mob facilitation in the name of populism.