Religion in Prolitics - Bangladesh History Congress | Report in Dhaka Tribune

Dhaka Tribune, October 5, 2013 at 00:35

Religion ‘centrepiece of politics’ in South Asia
Kamran Reza Chowdhury

'Secularism is not against religion. It is a way of life promoting fraternity and pluralism and accommodation of all belief-systems'

Speakers at an international conference in the capital said religion had become the “centrepiece of politics” not just in Bangladesh, but the entire South Asian region, threatening to shake the very foundations on which the so-called secular states stand.

To make matters worse, they observed, the states, instead of safeguarding the rights of all citizens irrespective of their faiths and convictions, are compromising with the reactionary elements triggering sectarian divides and conflicts.

The two-day conference, being hosted by Bangladesh Itihas Sammilani (Bangladesh History Congress), a civil society platform based in Dhaka, drew participants from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

On the first day of the event, speakers stressed the importance of secularism being at the helm of all state affairs and decisions to ensure uninterrupted social and cultural development.

“For those concerned about the idea of secularism, it is not against religion. It is a way of life promoting fraternity and pluralism and accommodation of all belief-systems,” said Mashirul Hasan, former vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi.

Referring to the situation in India, Mashirul said: “Our constitution is secular, no doubt, but the society is not. Sadly, the state sometimes tends to compromise with the reactionary elements and create disturbance.

Rashed Khan Menon, president of the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh, traced the shared history of politics and religion back to the British era and said the people of Bangladesh had traditionally been “non-communal.”

“But today, religion has become the centrepiece of our politics. The problem is not exclusive to Bangladesh only. In India too, we saw the rise of Hindutva putting national unity into jeopardy,” said Menon.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who attended the function as chief guest, hailed the role of Bangladesh in pioneering secularism as a state policy in South Asia.

“Bangladesh was the first South Asian country to introduce secularism in its 1972 constitution, as one of its four founding pillars. Even India incorporated it in its constitution in 1976, four years after Bangladesh,” she said.

She further said the ruling Awami League government had restored the secular constitution of 1972 with a view to promoting a secular society.

In his speech, Tariq Rahman, dean of the School of Education Beacon House National University, Pakistan, reflected on the growing tendency of Islamisation in his country.

“Over the past decade, Pakistan witnessed a surge in the tendency of Islamising its core principles and conventions,” he said, mentioning how something as mundane as names were being Islamised.