Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has spoken out strongly against attacks on the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh during the recent political unrest in the country following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Condemning the violence, Mr Ramaswamy said the deeper issues in Bangladesh are rooted in the country’s long-standing, yet controversial, quota system.
“The targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh is wrong, it’s concerning, and it’s a cautionary tale for victimhood-laced quota systems,” Mr Ramaswamy wrote on X.
Mr Ramaswamy went on to explain the origins of the quota system, which was implemented after the 1971 war that saw Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan.
“Bangladesh fought a bloody war for its independence in 1971. Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi civilians were raped and murdered. It was a tragedy, and it was rightly mourned. But in its aftermath, Bangladesh implemented a quota system for jobs in their civil service: 80% of the jobs were allocated to specific social groups (war veterans, rape victims, underrepresented residents, etc.), and only 20% were allocated based on merit,” he said.
The political turmoil in Bangladesh reached a climax on August 5, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, aged 76, fled the country by helicopter to India as protesters overran the streets of Dhaka. Her 15-year rule, marked by allegations of human rights abuses, came to a dramatic end. The weeks leading up to her ousting were bloody, with more than 450 dying during the unrest.
“The quota system proved to be a disaster,” Mr Ramaswamy claimed, pointing to the 2018 protests that led Bangladesh to scrap most of the quotas, only for them to be reinstated in 2024. The Indian-origin politician warned that such systems, designed to rectify past wrongs, can inadvertently perpetuate cycles of violence.
“Once chaos begins, it can’t easily be reined in. Radicals are now targeting Hindu minorities. A quota conflict created to rectify the wrongs of rape and violence in 1971 is now leading to more rape and violence in 2024. Bloodshed is the endpoint of grievance and victimhood. It’s hard not to look at Bangladesh and wonder what lessons we would do well to learn right here at home,” he said.
Members of Ms Hasina’s Awami League party went into hiding, and the country plunged into further instability. According to reports from the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, there have been at least 205 incidents of attacks on minority communities across 52 districts since Ms Hasina’s departure. Thousands of Bangladeshi Hindus have sought refuge in India, fearing for their safety in the volatile environment.
