While Hindu society is facing various threats almost all over Bharat, the situation is very critical in the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam.
HinduPost caught up with Shri Devdutta Maji, President of SinghaBahini – a nationalist organisation working for the vulnerable sections of society. We interviewed him on the work that SinghaBahini is doing, the challenges facing Hindus in the states of West Bengal and Assam where this organisation is most active, and his take on other relevant social issues of the day.
Questioner (Q) – Please tell us about SinghaBahini
Devdutta Maji (DM) – SinghaBahini was formed in 2018 to fight against anti-national & anti-Dharmic forces, and to empower Hindu society, especially the backward classes like SCs, OBCs, tribals, to stand up for their rights and keep themselves prepared for any situation. We give them the confidence that Hindus across the world are standing with them in their fight to retain their identity, provide legal assistance and empower them in every possible way.
Q – What are the main challenges facing Hindus in West Bengal and Assam today?
DM – Rapid demographic change is the main issue facing Hindus today. Most Hindus, especially urban ones, are unaware of this approaching danger.
It is good if we provide citizenship to persecuted Hindus from countries like Bangladesh. But the entire burden of these refugees should not fall on just 1 or 2 states, and we should try to stem the flow of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. The Bharatiya government and people of Bharat should develop a resolve to demand that countries like Bangladesh put and end to atrocities against Hindus.
Bharat played a major role in formation of Bangladesh, and freeing them from the genocidal barbarity of Pakistani Army. So why do we remain quiet when Hindus are persecuted in Bangladesh?
Countries like USA and USSR place their Army in other countries to safeguard their interests, so if Bangladesh Government is failing to provide security to their Hindu minority, we have the responsibility that our forces must be present in Bangladesh to provide security to Hindus there. Or we must demand land proportional to the 20-30% Hindu population that existed in Bangladesh at the time of its formation. We must create international pressure on Bangladesh, instead we have given them a clean chit.
We have taken Bangladesh at face value, but the ground reality is that Hindus are facing huge problems there. Both common citizens of Bharat and our Government must do more to ensure safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, especially the Hindus.
Q – What are your thoughts on the NRC (National Register of Citizens) carried out in Assam?
DM – The NRC has different implications in each state. How it was done in Assam was not right. The final list excluded mostly Hindus, Muslims have benefitted. It needs to be redone with better research and policies.
Q – This NRC in Assam was mandated and monitored by Supreme Court. SC appointed an independent executive Prateek Hajela to oversee the NRC process. So whatever flaws we have seen, and you are right – out of 19 lakh names in the NRC exclusion list almost 11-12 lakhs are said to be Hindus, how do we fix accountability for it?
DM – A neutral panel needs to be set up to redo this exercise. More Hindus being excluded compared to Muslims in the Assam NRC shows that Muslim leadership was smart enough to guide their people to get their names listed, whereas our leadership has failed.
We also need to remind Hindu refugees why they were compelled to leave Bangladesh. We have observed that after coming to Bharat, the next generation of Hindus are unaware of facts about why they left Bangladesh. A defeatist mindset has developed…a sort of Stockholm Syndrome.
Hindu refugees need to educate their future generations and pass on the right history, so that the same mistakes are not repeated after coming to Bharat. Will we Hindus just keep fleeing from one place to another? There must be a stop to this. No one is raising their voice for this issue.
Q – Can you elaborate on which regions in Assam & West Bengal are facing most impact due to the demography change?
DM – Many districts of Assam are Muslim majority today, while 3 districts and several blocks in West Bengal are Muslim majority. While most of these are border districts, there are many areas away from the border too where Hindus are today a minority. This is an alarming development. However much we develop economically, who will benefit from it 10 years from now – those who are escaping taxes, who have minimum contribution in this development?
Q – Amongst urbanites, there is a belief that fundamentalism or extremism of certain communities is because of poverty or lack of opportunity. Do you agree with this?
DM – I totally disagree with this theory. The Muslim rulers of India who existed 500 or 1000 years back were not poor. They had huge wealth. It is mentioned in their religious book that they (Muslims) have a right on property belonging to non-Muslims & their women..maal-e-ganimat is what they call it.
Q – But ‘maal-e-ganimat’ is war booty…
DM – But they consider themselves to be in perpetual war with kafirs. For eg., educated and rich Muslims were behind the recent suicide blasts in Sri Lanka. The Dhaka terror attack was also carried out by children of well-off & elite Muslims. Not only in the subcontinent, all across the world you can see the same thing – because they follow the same doctrine/manual, involvement in terrorism of both educated & rich, and uneducated & poor people is the same.
Q – Another thing that urban elites dismiss as a myth is the idea of Love Jihad. Your thoughts?
DM – We have seen cases where there is not even the drama of love – girls are abducted, threatened, blackmailed with intimate photos..of course, this is existing in society. We have rescued 100s of Love Jihad victims. We are sheltering & counselling them, trying our best to integrate them back into the mainstream. We motivate them to help other victims and share the responsibility of raising awareness in society.
Q – What is your message to Hindu society and to influential sections like business leaders, not just to politicians?
DM – We request Hindu business & religious leaders to stand with the ordinary Hindus, the rickshaw-wallah or kirana shop owner, the people who are connected to the ground. Ultimately, these people control access to the land and fight for our country and culture….they are your fighting classes. We should try to genuinely give them the feeling ‘We are with You’.
To give you an example, on 6th June (day of Eid) in Kishanganj, Bihar, 1000s of Muslims tried to grab tribal land belonging to Santhals and threatened Santhal women & children. 12 Santhals stood their ground armed with their traditional bow & arrow, and tried to protect their land and people. A few photos of this incident went viral on social media. However, in the end those 12 Santhals had to go to jail, and no one in the country even heard this news.
We provided legal assistance to those 12 Santhals. These people have a monthly income of hardly Rs. 1000-1500, we took total care of their families while they were in jail. One Santhal even died during this period, leaving behind his 6 children.
These are the modern-day Kshatriyas – whoever fights for Desh and Dharma is a Kshatriya – and we need to take care of them. They should not feel they are fighting a lone battle. We must back them fully. Just like our business leaders and spiritual gurus represent Hindu society, so do these ordinary Hindus fighting on the ground.
Q – Do you think our legal system / law & order machinery acts differently when a Hindu stands accused of a crime, versus when a non-Hindu is accused?
DM – Yes, we see this across the country. When a Hindu goes to register a complaint, police negligence is clearly visible.
Q – So you think the system is conditioned to act more aggressively when a Hindu is accused of a crime, and conditioned to suppress the incident when a non-Hindu stands accused?
DM – Yes, exactly.
Q – Thank you for speaking to us Devdutta ji, we hope that SinghaBahini has more success in future endeavours and more such organisations become active across the country.
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