Bangladesh: Is Muhammad Yunus colluding with Islamists? Deity of Durga removed, Hindu temple razed to ground in...

Why has the Muhammad Yunus-led Bangladesh Interim government failed to stop vandalisation and destruction of Hindu temples and attacks on Hindus time and again? This question has been raised once again after a Durga temple was razed in Khilkhet in the southern district of the capital Dhaka. India denounced the destruction of the Hindu temple and said that it is the responsibility of Bangladesh's interim government to protect Hindus as well as their religious institutions. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the extremists were clamouring for demolishing the Durga temple, but the interim government, instead of providing security to the temple, projected the episode as illegal land use and they allowed the destruction of the temple. 

Minorities in Bangladesh under attack

This is not the first incident of this kind since Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the Chief Advisor to the interim government on August 8, 2024, after Sheikh Hasina was deposed in a series of popular nationwide protests. Reports suggest Bangladesh has witnessed more than 200 instances of attacks, including five killings, on minority Hindus in three days of chaos after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime. The UN report released on February 12, 2025, revealed that violent mob attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh began even before Hasina was forced to flee to India. Ahmadiyya Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, were also subjected to similar atrocities.

Is Muhammad Yunus colluding with Islamists?

However, Muhammad Yunus has miserably failed to control the Islamist forces. He has been accused of either ignoring the radical Islamists or colluding with them to perpetuate his own rule. It can be gauged by the fact that days after Hasina's ouster, the Muhammad Yunus-led government lifted the ban imposed on the Jamaat-e-Islami. His government also released convicted terrorists, like Jashimuddin Rahmani. The radical Islamic forces have become so strong that they have threatened to drive Yunus out within five minutes if he does not listen to him. 

A seminar organized by the Jatiya Olama Mashayekh Aemma Parishad in May was attended by top leaders of various Islamist parties, including Islamic Movement Bangladesh, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, and Islamic Unity Alliance.