Rights are the necessary conditions for all-round development of individuals.
They are an integral part of human life. Almost all states in their fundamental
law have given the guarantee of certain rights and they are legally binding
on all institutions, authorities, persons, policy makers, adjudicating departments, etc.
under its jurisdiction. Bangladesh is no exception to this. After it was liberated from
the yoke of West Pakistan, it adopted its constitution in 1972 and incorporated certain
rights to its citizens. Along with this, the constitution also made certain special
provisions to protect the culture and rights of the religious minorities. Theoretically
this legal document has great value, but in practice, whether it is government, official
or private institution, people from minority communities remain subject to the
dominance of majority. Constitutional amendments, particularly 8th constitutional
amendment in 1988, which declared Bangladesh an Islamic state, made minority
people more vulnerable to the religious freedom. In addition to this, marginalization
of minorities in politics, government jobs, and decision-making process in each and
every department led to the feeling of alienation. In order to have healthy and
inclusive society, a state must be secular. No citizen of the state should feel that any
religion or culture has given undue favor. The appropriate social, political and legal structure can help the state to function properly. There is reservation for women in
Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh, but there is no single woman representative from
minority communities. Does it mean that there is no worthy woman from religious
minorities to be a member of Jatiya Sangsad? The political parties and politicians
in Bangladesh have consolidated their power on the basis of religion. And religious
minorities, because of they are less in number, cannot win in election (Appendix).
Religion remains a dominant factor in the domestic politics of Bangladesh. When we
talk about identity, especially a lost identity, it is not an easy task to get it back. Looking
back to the history, it is a well-known fact that Bangladesh was part of secular India.
The creed of the Muslim rulers to establish their religious identity reflects in the policies
of some of the military rulers of independent Bangladesh as well as democratic
government. Practices of such rulers, such as destroying temples and viharas of
Buddhists, are sufficient examples to prove it. This is nothing but conquering a religion
by all wrong means. This was the first step where the identity of non-muslims was
trashed and thus this system took an ugly turn by killing and murdering the nonmuslims.
No person in the universe bears to live without self-respect; even an
imprisoned accused needs respect. And here the question is of mass where people
are free but for name sake, they are in continuous threat of losing their life if they
revolt to earn their snatched identity. Therefore, the mainstream political parties in
Bangladesh should give proper representation to the religious communities, including
women from minority communities so that they could address their problems
confidently. It is the necessity of time that the government must think over mass
migration of the minority people and must practice a culture of tolerance and respect
for others. In the field of education, the Bangladesh Government has many boards
of secondary and higher secondary education, e.g., Madarsa education board,
Sanskrit and Pali education board, etc. At present, the Sanskrit and Pali board
receives only one lakh rupees annually. The board was running its business from
a house which was on rent for BDT1,500.1 Table 1 shows how the pessimistic
approach of the government affected the education of the Buddhist tribal people
which further affected their economic status. The table presents the highest class
passed by household members above the age of five years among the Buddhist tribals.
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