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Jyoti Talukdar, 70 (pseudonym), is a voter from Habiganj-3 Constituency. In the last 2018 national election, Jyoti had to return from the polling station at the government high school center in Habiganj town. Jyoti Talukdar expressed her experience at the time, saying, "I went there and saw some polling agents of a political party standing in front of the polling station. They stopped me from entering the polling booth when I tried. Later, I was forcely obliged to return home without voting because I had no other option."
"I cast vote for my favourite candidate in every election," said this 70-year-old woman, "but I couldn't go to the center to vote in the last election. I still have regrets."
After conceding defeat in the upazila election on 30 May 2016, a political party chairman candidate and two other defeated member candidates brutally attacked a Hindu community village in Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila's Khurushkul Union. A total of 30 people were injured during the attack.
The atrocious attack was orchestrated late at night, following the announcement of the election results. Nearly 30-35 dwellings, two temples, and 10–12 shops were vandalised. It was also reported that cows were taken away from cowsheds during the mayhem.
Following the national election on 5 January 2014, opponents damaged, set fire to and robbed hundreds of Hindu homes and businesses in the village of Dinajpur Sadar Upazila. Approximately 50 family members fled the attack in the minority village of Karnai in the Chehelgazi union and sought shelter in the home of local neighbour Rezaul Karim Raki.
Whoever wins or loses the election brings disaster for minorities, including physical assault and house fires. As a result, minorities are once again concerned about the next 12th parliamentary election on January 7. They are never able to openly and bravely cast their voting rights like the majority Muslim community. There is no exemplary punishment to ensure that the victims of this violence receive justice.
The Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee is an organisation that works against attacks on ethnic minorities in elections. Minorities, according to the organisation, were suppressed in various ways following the 1971 elections. Later in 1990, during the major movement against the military rule, an attack on the minority population took place in October.
Following the 2001 parliamentary elections, the country's minority communities were subjected to persecuted widespread violence. Even after the national elections on January 5, 2014, there was a well-planned attack against minority populations.
The 12th national parliamentary elections are only a few days away. If all goes as well, parliamentary elections will be held on January 7, 2024. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad has requested that the Election Commission identify the minority-dominated areas as 'risky' for voting. On October 12, the memorandum was delivered on behalf of the organisation to the Agargaon election commission’s building in the capital.
According to the memorandum, the country's religious and ethnic minorities are terrified and worried because Bangladesh has become a diplomatic battleground for the world's superpowers ahead of the elections. We also hope that all of the country's political parties and alliances will participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in a festival mood, therefore brightening the country's democratic future.
Aside from that, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad urged protection for religious and ethnic minorities both before and after the election, as well as continuous patrolling by RAB and BGB and the formation of a monitoring cell,' as well as the deployment of police Ansar.
Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad General Secretary Rana Dasgupta said, "There will be a game in the upcoming" in the political climate. This sound alarmed the religious and ethnic minorities in this country. Because almost all the past elections have been victimised unnecessarily in the pre-election period.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal told reporters, "We have taken the issue of violence very seriously. Law-enforcement agencies will look into the matter so that there is no communal conflict or violence committed around the elections in the country.”
Ruling political party Awami League Office Secretary Biplab Barua said, "Those who carried out on the fuel of violence, legal action is being taken against them. Still, more political unity is needed in the country to stop it throughout.”
Country’s main opposition party BNP’s National Executive Committee member Nipun Roy Chowdhury said, "Most of the voting-centric persecution of minorities has been done by the ruling party’s leaders and activists. The silence of the government administration after the violence shows that the government has a beneficiary hand here.”
The Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee prepared a list of vulnerable seats for minorities ahead of the 2018 parliamentary polls. They found that there were 96 such risky parliamentary constituencies across the country, with over 12 percent of the minority community voting as per that list. Out of those, 61 constituencies were identified as the most vulnerable zones for minorities by the organisation.
Shahriar Kabir, Executive President of the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, said, "We demand that minorities be able to vote without fear like other voters in Bangladesh. The state should ensure equal rights and security for 12 crore voters at the time of voting and their participation in elections so that there is no fear of being a minority.”
M. Ruhul Amin, Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police, said, “Compared to the previous national parliamentary elections, the current situation is more satisfactory. Till now, we do not have any information about communal violence or any type of threats to the minority voters. There is a law enforcement alert to prevent such type of violence in the pre-and post-election situation."
The writer is a journalist.
Messenger/Fameema
