The recent lynching of a “secular blogger” in Bangladesh by some extremist fringe elements has sparked off the debate on rising intolerance and extremism in Bangladesh.A number of events have taken place in Bangladesh in the recent time that explicitly indicate the rising intolerance among the “conservative section” of Bangladesh. They find it quite easy to chop off the head of the person preaching secularism and questioning the rightist agenda.
As a consequence,the Bangladesh government is mulling over banning Jamaat-e-Islami, the group allegedly involved in the murder of the blogger. Whether the proposal will shape into reality or not is hidden in the agenda of time but the Sheikh Hasina government should seriously try to put an end to rising extremism through all possible options available.
Radicalisation in Bangladesh becomes imperative for India as it will have serious repercussions on India owing to the factor of perpetual Bangaldeshi infiltration into India through the porous border. India itself has started some actions viz. de-radicalisation programme at Maharashtra, Cyber watch etc to contain the contents abetting radicalisation on the basis of religion.The events in any country always have a good probability of jumping into neighbouring country and since radicalisation & extremism is a growing challenge in both Pakistan and Bangladesh,the extreme neighbours of India,the Indian government must keep itself ready to counter any such radical infiltration to India.
Bangladesh should take a four level approach to instill the values of secularism & remove the tenets of radicalisation from it’s people:
- The basic level should be the parental level because studies have shown that upto 85 percent of brain development of a child happens till the age of 6. So,if the parents instill the values of secularism & tolerance at the primary level,it would have a profound impact on the entire life of that child.
- The second level should be the school where the teachers & study course itself should offer a vivid study of tolerance & secularism.
- The third level should be the “religious leaders” who should strictly condemn any violence abetted on the name of religion & should preach their followers the real values of life & religion.
- The fourth & last level should & must belong to the political leaders who are the ultimate saviours & protectorates of constitution and they should try their level best to uphold the character of “Secularism” enshrined in the Bangladesh Constitution.
