Iskcon backs Mamata Banerjee's demand for peacekeeping force in Bangladesh

KOLKATA: A day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre to request the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping force in Bangladesh and sought the prime minister's "intervention" to bring back persecuted Indians from the neighbouring country, Iskcon Kolkata too spoke on the same lines demanding world intervention.

"We are thankful to CM Mamata Banerjee for speaking up on the issue and highlighting the need of global intervention. She keeps calling me regularly to know the developments and it is extremely comforting to know that she has offered refuge to Iskcon devotees and members who may seek shelter here in this current situation," said Radharamn Das, the Iskcon vice president in Kolkata.

While reacting to the extended jail stay of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh, the Iskcon Kolkata vice president on Tuesday said he felt "democracy is in jeopardy in Bangladesh and basic human rights of minorities is being compromised".

The bail hearing of the Iskcon monk, accused of sedition in Bangladesh, was postponed to Jan 2 after no lawyer appeared in court on Tuesday to represent him.

On Monday night, Radharamn Das had shared a photograph of a severely injured advocate Ramen Roy — Chinmoy Das's counsel — admitted at a hospital and prayed for his well-being while adding that he was fighting for his life only for defending Chinmoy Das in court.

"The entire legal system and judiciary is falling apart in Bangladesh where a person doesn't even have the basic rights to defend and speak for oneself before the court. Basic democratic and human rights of minorities are being violated. We had expected Chinmoy Das would get bail today but not only his hearing was postponed, what's shocking is that the next hearing date has been placed a month later," said Das on Tuesday.

Das added that the number of policemen Bangladesh government had deputed to bring Chinmoy Krishna Das to the court on Tuesday was appalling and said had they deployed the same number of cops on the road, atrocities on Hindus could have been minimised.

"The monk is being treated like a terrorist, which he is not. It's a wrong labelling. Some people want the 7% minorities in Bangladesh get reduced to 0. People in govt jobs like professors and others are being forced to resign if they do not change their religion. Chinmoy Das and few other Hindus thought it was time to protest and thus 4 lakh people joined in and were out on the road voicing their protest. But instead of listening to their pleas, the govt is taking oppressive measures and labelling them as terrorists," said Das.

He added that Hindus and Iskcon monks are being threatened and tortured in Bangladesh but the authorities are not doing anything.

Reacting to UK MPs Preeti Patel and Barry Gardiner condemning the violence in Bangladesh Das appreciated the response and appealed to world leaders to speak up on the issue.

Rasik Gouranga Das, spokesperson of Iskcon's global headquarters at Mayapur, refused to comment on the issue terming it as a "an international issue".