New Delhi: All India Imam Association president Maulana Sajid Rashidi has said that the ongoing protests and demonstrations in Bangladesh are directed against the interim Yunus-led government and are not aimed at the Hindu community. Speaking to ANI, Rashidi asserted that the agitation stems from public anger over unemployment and rising inflation and should not be communalised. He insisted that the killing of 10-15 people is not genocide.
“The agitation, protests and demonstrations happening there, those rallies and processions, are not against Hindus at all. Why do you want to turn that against Hindus? It is against the Yunus government. It is against unemployment and inflation… I absolutely stand by my remarks on Bangladesh. It is not genocide,” he said.
He further alleged that religious polarisation in India has led to the killing of Muslims, claiming that such incidents were being ignored. “Those who call it genocide are doing an injustice to the Muslims of India. They are ignoring them. Either call this genocide, too, and then call that genocide, too… You won’t call the killing of 50 people genocide. You will call the killing of 10-15 people genocide,” he said.
He claimed that Muslim men were being harassed and forced to chant slogans against their will. “I am raising the voice of my people and those with beards and caps are being caught and told to say “Vande Mataram,” and chant “Jai Shri Ram,” he said.
Rashidi said that Islam does not condone violence against innocents and said that any killing, regardless of religion, was wrong. However, he questioned the selective use of the term “genocide”. “You are not ready to call what is happening in Gaza a genocide. 40,000 children were killed in Palestine, and 1,50,000 people were murdered, but you are not ready to call that a genocide,” he said.
His remarks come amid fresh reports of mob violence in Bangladesh. A Hindu man was allegedly beaten to death by a mob in Rajbari district over an extortion-related dispute, days after another Hindu man was lynched and set on fire in Mymensingh.
According to Bangladeshi daily The Daily Star, the victim, identified as Amrit Mondal, also known as Samrat, was attacked around 11 pm on Wednesday in Hosendanga village under Pangsha upazila. Police said he was rescued in critical condition and taken to a local health facility, where doctors declared him dead in the early hours of Thursday. His body has been sent for post-mortem examination as investigations continue.