In both Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hindus are systematically discriminated against, subjected to violence, and disenfranchised by state policies.
For decades, the self-proclaimed intelligentsia in both India and the West have positioned themselves as the guardians of the marginalised. Yet, they have done so while tactfully providing intellectual cover to those pushing for the establishment of a totalitarian regime rooted in Islamic Othering.
At the same time, they have demonstrated a calibrated blind spot and have wilfully overlooked the systemic persecution of Hindus, particularly in Pakistan and Bangladesh, two nations where their very existence is constantly under threat, not just from religious bigotry but also through State engineered constitutional mechanisms.
DISTORTION OF NARRATIVES IN MEDIA
The narratives we often consume through social and mainstream media regarding India’s treatment of its Muslim population tend to focus on isolated incidents of violence or socio-ethnic clashes. The so-called liberal voices, often nothing more than manifestations of paternalism, habitually use these stray incidents to engineer false equivalences, drawing comparisons between India’s societal issues to those of its neighbours, countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh) carved out from India on the premise of Islamic Othering. At best, this oversimplifies the situation and distorts reality by drawing misleading and false parallels.
This approach is deeply misleading and problematic. The status of any minority group in a country cannot be defined by random incidents but rather must be assessed through the lens of institutional mechanisms, policies and systemic structures in place.
STATE PATRONAGE AND RELIGIOUS RESERVATIONS
In India, Muslims, as a minority, have received disproportionate state and political patronage compared to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, or Christians in Bangladesh and Pakistan, where minorities face systemic and institutional oppression. Had the liberal intelligentsia in both India and the West been truly committed to an honest evaluation, they would have expressed an alarming outrage over policies like the amendments to the Waqf Act of 1995, to which they instead endorsed with their deafening silence. Legislations of this kind, granted unchecked powers to an overtly exclusionary and bigoted religious institution in a secular state.
Further, these same voices would raise concerns about the religious reservations set aside specifically for Muslims. If that weren’t enough, we see further political pandering with the introduction of a special reservation for OBC Muslims, despite the fact that Abrahamic faiths are often perceived as vehicles for bridging caste divides, not reinforcing them.
DISTORTED LENS OF LIBERAL NARRATIVES
Despite the undeniable persecution of religious and systemic nature in Muslim-majority states like Pakistan and Bangladesh, countries carved out of the former India, the global and Indian liberal intelligentsia rarely speaks out against the deeply entrenched religious and institutional discrimination faced by Hindus who were left behind during partition. Instead, there is a tendency to downplay these issues, drawing false equivalences between the treatment of Muslims in India and the systemic persecution of Hindus in these neighbouring Islamic states.
This selective blindness is especially evident in the context of debates surrounding the portrayal of India’s Muslim population. In India, Muslims, despite being a significant minority, have been the recipients disproportionately of substantial state patronage, particularly in areas like religious funding, educational institutions, and affirmative action policies. What the intelligentsia fails to address is that this preferential treatment has led to a disproportionate allocation of state resources, violating the principles of the Uniform Civil Code, which seeks to provide equal rights to all citizens, regardless of religion. The policies designed to benefit Muslims alone, while neglecting true minorities like Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, and Parsis, raise valid concerns about the imbalances they create within the secular framework of the country. Yet, these concerns are often dismissed as “Islamophobic” by the same intelligentsia that remains silent on the far graver abuses occurring in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
QUIET ERASURE OF HINDUS IN BANGLADESH AND PAKISTAN
In both Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hindus are systematically discriminated against, subjected to violence, and disenfranchised by state policies. For instance, in Bangladesh, under the Vested Property Act (VPA) of 1974, the state declared itself the custodian of Hindu lands previously seized under the Enemy Property Act (EPA) of 1965. This legislation was particularly discriminatory, as it declared all Hindus, irrespective of nationality, as enemies. The state seized their lands, claiming them to be the property of the “enemy,” particularly those suspected of sympathizing with India.
After Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, hopes were high that the discriminatory laws would be repealed. While Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did repeal the EPA, he replaced it with the VPA, which continued the state’s control over Hindu lands. Successive governments, including that of Zia-ur-Rahman, further amended the VPA, allowing the state not only to seize Hindu lands but also to lease them to third parties, often on a perpetual basis. This created a system where local political goons, Muslim elites, and party workers could forcibly evict Hindus from their lands, using violence, intimidation, and state complicity. As a result, scores of Hindus were rendered landless and displaced.
When Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League took power, there were efforts to return the seized lands, but these efforts have yielded minimal results. As of now, the state has expropriated over 26 lakh acres of land from 14 lakh Hindu families, with 83% of this land being agricultural. Of the land seized, 43% is now in the hands of BNP party workers and Muslim goons, while 34% is controlled by Awami League-affiliated individuals.
Furthermore, the fact that 8 million Hindus have disappeared from the Bangladeshi census since 1971, likely forced to flee to India. This demonstrates the scale of the land grabs and the forced migration caused by religious persecution.
ISLAMO-LEFTIST ALLIANCE AND ITS DELIBERATE BLIND SPOT
The reluctance to acknowledge the plight of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh can be attributed to a deeper ideological alliance between Islamism and leftist political forces, both in the West and in India. This “Islamo-Leftist alliance” pushes a narrative that portrays Muslim communities as perennial victims, particularly in the context of India’s rising Hindu nationalism. However, this narrative selectively ignores the far more severe oppression of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two Islamic-majority countries that have actively sought to erase the cultural and social identity of their Hindu populations.
By turning a blind eye to the religious persecution faced by Hindus in these neighbouring states, the liberal intelligentsia allows Pakistan and Bangladesh to avoid scrutiny and accountability. This selective silence serves to shield these regimes from global criticism, while simultaneously stoking division in India. The focus on India’s Muslim minority, often portrayed as victims of a Hindu-majority state, distracts from the much graver situation faced by Hindus in these Islamic countries, where they are literally fighting for survival.
NEED FOR BALANCED NARRATIVE
The global intelligentsia’s approach to religious persecution must evolve beyond ideological biases and false narratives. The suffering of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan must be acknowledged and brought to the forefront of international discourse. Hindus in these countries are not only facing societal discrimination but also state-sponsored policies that continue to undermine their existence. These abuses cannot be ignored in favour of politically motivated narratives that create false moral equivalences between the treatment of Muslims in India and the treatment of Hindus in Islamic countries.
If the global liberal intelligentsia truly cares about human rights, religious freedom, and minority protection, it must begin to challenge the narrative that shields regimes like those in Pakistan and Bangladesh at the cost of silencing the voices of Hindus. This means acknowledging the systemic abuse of Hindus in these countries, questioning the harmful policies that fuel their persecution, and holding these regimes accountable for their actions. Only then can we foster a truly inclusive and honest dialogue on religious tolerance and human rights—one that does not pick and choose its victims based on ideological convenience.
* Both Sanjeev (@Crystal_X_Clear) and Adit (@IndicSociety) regularly host spaces on X, where they engage in insightful discussions and deconstruct misleading narratives related to the Indian history and other geopolitical matters from an Indian prism.