Author: Pallab Bhattacharya, New
Delhi
Publication: The Daily Star
Date: October 24, 2001
URL: http://www.dailystarnews.com/200110/24/n1102401.htm#BODY6
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
has said India is in touch with Bangladesh in connection with reported
attacks on minority Hindus in that country and New Delhi has taken a "serious
view" of damage to Durga Puja pandals in Bangladesh.
Vajpayee, who was talking to reporters
in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state on Monday, said Indian High
Commissioner in Dhaka had taken up with Bangladesh leaders who have assured
that elements behind the incidents would be sternly dealt with.
He said Bangladesh government had
been discouraging the incidents. Vajpayee was responding to a question
also on alleged exodus of some Hindus from Bangladesh following the reported
attacks on them.
The Prime Minister's remarks came
on a day when Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Manilal Tripathy met
Bangladesh Religious Affairs Minister Mosharaf Hossain Shahjahan and took
up the issue of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh following the October
1 parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, nearly 500 activists
of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and some other frontal wings of Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) yesterday staged a demonstration in front of Bangladesh
High Commission in New Delhi protesting reported atrocities on minority
Hindus in Bangladesh.
Carrying placards that read "don't
Talibanise Bangladesh" and "stop atrocities on Hindus," the protestors
shouted slogans against Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and gave
a two-day ultimatum to take action against perpetrators of attacks against
minorities.
Demanding action against the attackers
on minorities, the demonstrators threatened "action" against the Bangladesh
mission located in Lajpat Nagar locality of South Delhi if this was not
done.
The demonstration lasted for a couple
of hours during which local leaders of VHP, Bajrand Dal, Hindu Jagaran
Manch and Hindu Mahasabha spoke as a posse of policemen kept watch to guard
against possible outbreak of untoward incident. The protests passed off
peacefully.
Later, a delegation of the demonstrators
submitted a memorandum to the Bangladesh High Commission registering their
protest. The VHP in a statement has asked the Indian government to take
up with Bangladesh the issue of atrocities against minorities in that country.
