When Bangladesh was formed in the year 1971, it declared itself a secular state separate from Pakistan. Constitutionally it remained as a secular nation. But there was a majority of the Muslim community in the population, which probably never liked this fabric of secularism. In 1988, the military ruler of Bangladesh, Hussain Mohammed Ershad, through a constitutional amendment, declared Islam the state religion of Bangladesh. Although some people did take this matter to the court, but the people sitting in the courts were also mostly of the same mentality, so after a few years this case was dismissed.
Thus established as a secular country, Bangladesh became an Islamic nation. Although the governments there keep talking of secularism, the reality is that secularism is no longer present in the Constitution of Bangladesh nor is it visible in the behavior of the majority community there. Now everything is taking the form of that Islamic fundamentalism in which there is no place for any religion or ideology other than Islam. This radicalization has now taken such a formidable form that in the last few years, writers and bloggers who talk of secularism have been murdered in Bangladesh. Instead of ensuring the safety of such writers and bloggers, they were advised by the Bangladesh police to stay in the border. This character of Bangladesh police is still there today. In cases related to attacks on minorities by the majority, the Bangladeshi police tend to cover up while acting as a pretense.
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Now in a country where the police are running on this thinking, it seems redundant to talk about things like secularism, liberalism and social harmony. In fact, the kind of tyranny that Bangla had started demanding its liberation from Pakistan, was that West Pakistan was trying to forcibly establish its own control over the identity of erstwhile East Pakistan i.e. present-day Bangladesh. As a result, there was a rebellion and then Bangladesh came into existence with the help of India. But today the same situation is arising in Bangladesh as well, only people are different. Today the majority community seems to be trying to establish its control over the minorities, to stop which nothing concrete seems to be done by the Bangladeshi government. Now nothing is known about when it will stop or it will continue like this.
