Bangladeshi Hindus have historically been known as loyalists and the key support base of the Awami League (AL)which is seen as the centrist-secular and pluralist alternative to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), where members of the minority community have been appointed to positions of power. However, there are conflicting narratives on whether the Hindu community has been disproportionately favoured by the party or faced various barriers to secure key positions. Despite the existence of legal and constitutional protection, the Hindu community has been subjected to direct and structural forms of violence. Contrary to popular opinion, the precarity of Hindus did not completely stop when the AL was in power. They have been further Otherised through many episodes of communal violence during high-profile events such as elections, religious festivals and incidents that occur in neighbouring India. The most ostensible form of institutional violence has been land dispossession through the Vested Property Act (VPA) (formerly the Enemy Property Act during Pakistan’s rule). The VPA and its amendments have played a role in labelling Hindus as the Other. This chapter examines the minoritisation of Bangladesh Hindus through communal violence and politics of land appropriation.
Published in the Routledge Handbook of State, Nation and Nationalism in South Asia (ed. Amit Ranjan). Read the full chapter.