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Hindu community members in Canada protested outside the Bangladesh Consulate in Toronto against alleged attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, raising slogans like ‘Hindu Lives Matter’.
Protests in Canada against alleged atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh (Video screengrabs/ANI)
Members of the Hindu community in Canada on Wednesday held protests against the recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. The demonstrations were being held outside the Bangladesh Consulate in Toronto, where many were seen holding placards and raising ‘Hindu Lives Matter’ slogans.
Some were even heard chanting, “We are with our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh”.
Speaking to news agency ANI, one of the protesters said, “In Bangladesh, they are genociding Hindus, they are assaulting our women, they are raping our children, they are doing whatever they can because the Hindus are in minority and they try to overrun the Indian authorities.”
That’s what they have done in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, and now they are trying to do the same in Bangladesh,” he said.
Another protester said, “What’s happening today in Bangladesh, being of Bangladeshi origin, my heart goes out to them. This needs to be stopped. We have vanished from Afghanistan and we have vanished from Pakistan, if we are not saved now, we will be vanished from Bangladesh as well.”
#WATCH | A woman of Bangladeshi origin says, ” What’s happening today in Bangladesh, being a Bangladeshi origin, my heart goes out to them. This needs to be stopped. We have vanished from Afghanistan and we have vanished from Pakistan, if we are not saved now, we will be vanished… pic.twitter.com/LGm2jUsqHF— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2024
PAN-INDIA PROTESTS AGAINST ATROCITIES ON HINDUS IN BANGLADESH
On December 10, members of various Hindu organisations and civil society groups staged protests across India against attacks on community members in Bangladesh.
While hundreds of people from various outfits, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), held a protest march at Delhi’s Chanakyapuri, a similar rally was taken out in Lucknow condemning the attacks on Hindus in the neighbouring country.
At Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, protesters marched to the deputy commissioner’s office to show solidarity with the Hindus in Bangladesh, while in Jammu, a large number of protesters took to the streets demanding the intervention of the Centre and the United Nations in the matter.
Similar protests, which coincided with World Human Rights Day, were also staged in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, among other places.
In Delhi, security was stepped up outside the Bangladesh High Commission in Chankyapuri where a large number of protesters gathered to raise the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Demanding the intervention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in the matter, the protesters carrying placards called upon Bangladesh to stop the alleged “genocide” of Hindus in the country.
Several personalities, including Sadhvi Ritambhara, Keshav Murari from ISKCON, former Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava, ex-Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri, and Buddhist spiritual leader Rahul Bhante, among others, addressed the rally.
A memorandum was also submitted to the Bangladesh High Commissioner by the members of the Civil Society of Delhi, emphasising the historically strong and cordial relations between India and Bangladesh, a statement read.
Hindus constitute about 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million population.
