At a Jamaat rally in Bamna, Barguna, a man named Afzal Hossain stood at the microphone and said, “In a country that is 80 percent Muslim, there can be no infidel or indecent representatives in parliament.” We need to think carefully about what he actually said. He said that in this country, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians cannot become elected representatives. Not only that, he went further and openly said he wants a system where thieves’ hands are cut off. These statements were made from a Jamaat stage, in front of a Jamaat-nominated candidate, and not a single person present objected.
This was not an accident. This is the real face of Jamaat-e-Islami, once again proven through the chaos unleashed across the country in July 2024. By removing an elected government, killing people on the streets, murdering police officers, and burning state property, power was seized. Now the true objective of that power grab is becoming clear. Under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, with open backing from Jamaat, a project is underway to turn Bangladesh into a religious state.
Attacks on minorities in this country did not begin overnight. Since July, thousands of Hindu and Christian families across the country have been attacked. Churches have been bombed, temples vandalized, shops looted, homes burned. And now, openly from Jamaat platforms, it is being declared that non-Muslims cannot enter parliament. This is no longer a conspiracy theory. This is reality. To those who claimed the July movement was a student movement, what answer do you have now? Do students want minorities to be barred from parliament?
Muhammad Yunus’s role must be questioned. How did a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, someone who claims to stand for democracy, allow a situation where Jamaat-e-Islami can openly spread hatred against minorities? Does he not know that in 1971 Jamaat collaborated with the Pakistani army to kill the people of this country? Does he not know that Jamaat never accepted Bangladesh’s independence? Then why is this organization being given political space?
The answer is simple. The violence of July 2024 was not just a student movement. There was foreign funding, support from a section of the military, and most importantly, armed Jamaat cadres. Who killed police officers? Who burned government buildings? Who attacked Hindu homes? No one is answering these questions, but what was said from the stage in Barguna answers them clearly.
If no action is taken after these statements, it will mean Bangladesh is no longer the Bangladesh it once was. Just as the Taliban dragged Afghanistan back into the Middle Ages, just as Islamist militants destroyed Syria, just as the Houthis turned Yemen into a battlefield, Bangladesh is walking the same path. And the responsibility does not rest with Jamaat alone. It also lies with Muhammad Yunus and his so-called interim government.
In a country where the Constitution guarantees equal rights to all citizens, it is now being openly said that non-Muslims cannot enter parliament. This is not just a threat to minorities. It is a direct attack on Bangladesh’s Constitution and the spirit of the Liberation War. In 1971, this country was born as a secular, democratic state. Today, that dream is being crushed, led by Jamaat-e-Islami, a party of war criminals.
After the Barguna incident, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer said action would be taken if a written complaint is filed. Is that response enough? A man is publicly violating the Constitution and threatening to strip minorities of their rights, and the administration says it needs a written complaint? Is it not the state’s responsibility to act on its own? Or has the machinery of the state now fallen into Jamaat’s hands?
The real question is this: do the people of Bangladesh want to walk this path? In a country where Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians fought together to win independence, will it now be declared that only Muslims can go to parliament? Is this the price of the blood of the millions who were martyred in 1971? Will the sacrifices of thousands of Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian freedom fighters be denied like this?
Jamaat-e-Islami has never been a friend of Bangladesh, and it is not one today. This organization wants to turn Bangladesh into a religious state like Pakistan, where minorities have no place. Muhammad Yunus and his associates are fully facilitating this agenda. Otherwise, how is it possible that such statements are made openly and no action is taken?
Bangladesh now stands at a crossroads. Either the country returns to the spirit of the Liberation War, or it becomes Taliban-style Afghanistan. There is no middle path. If Jamaat remains in power, there will be no place for minorities, no rights for women, no space for free thought. There will only be oppression in the name of religion, medieval punishments, and communal division. And the responsibility will lie not only with Jamaat, but also with those who helped Jamaat reach this position.