There seems to be an unsettling calm on the streets of Bangladesh. In Dhaka, young students could be seen painting the walls white outside college, to rub off the slogans of the ‘revolution’ and write new slogans of victory.
But inside the premises, what cannot be wiped off is the grimness and the disheveled hostel rooms. The hostel which housed Hindu students are empty and the manner in which belongings and clothes are thrown on the floor, shows that the students left in a hurry and panic.
A broken Ma Saraswati statue, the goddess of learning, lay on the floor, as News18 visited the college premises. A dirty white cloth was hurriedly wrapped on it so that there is no proof of what the small college temple went through.
News18 spotted a small, dimly lit room, with three young students. They said, “We are Muslims and we never looked upon ourselves as one. Our Hindu friends ran away in panic. We could not stop them.”
Not too far away from this college is the Jagannath Hall, a hostel of Dhaka University which houses students from the minority communities. Nestling between the hostel buildings is a small temple and Vivekananda statue. Students sat eating in the small canteen. Not many wanted to speak as they felt it’s time to move on or go underground.
But three students who spoke to News18 said that they wanted to concentrate on their studies as the mission had been accomplished with the end of the ‘corrupt’ Hasina regime.
One of the students, Swagatan Bhowmick, told News18, “We are students, we are meant to study. It’s time we realise that our work is over. We need to move on. Yes, there have been attacks on Hindus and temples, which, I agree, should not have happened.”
“But when such a magnitude of protest takes place, there is bound to be spilling of anger. And this is what we saw. It was not against Hindus as such, it was more against those who were perceived to be close to the Sheikh Hasina government,” said another student Deepak Chandrabarun.
Suman Kumar Mahato, another student, agreed to this, saying, “It was not an organised attack on Hindus. Some took advantage of the situation and this was not correct.”
This is where the challenge lies. The big questions are – how to convince those who watched the horrific scenes of vandalism that this was not what the protesters wanted? How to ensure that the cause is not compromised with rabid and conservative elements taking charge?
The students said their fight was apolitical and they didn’t do it for power. They said they only wanted to take the message to the politicians that people power is supreme. The question then is – Will the new netas of Bangladesh understand this and when will the hostels see light again?
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