By Tajdar H Zaidi
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Ahmedabad that the Hindu population in Bangladesh has drastically fallen from 27% at the time of Partition to just 9% today, due to forced conversions and displacement. He questioned where the remaining Hindus had gone, suggesting they had either been forced to convert to other religions or had fled to India. Shah said that these people have the right to practice their religion freely and added it is important to take action if they cannot live with dignity in their own country. He assured that the Narendra Modi government would ensure justice.
The event marked the granting of citizenship certificates to 188 Hindu refugees who had come from Pakistan before Dec 31, 2014.
Shah accused past Congress-led governments of delaying citizenship for refugees due to appeasement politics.
“Those who sought refuge in India were denied citizenship from 1947 to 2014,” Shah was quoted in a TOI report. “They (refugees) were not just tortured in neighbouring countries for being Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh, but also in our country as lakhs and crores of people longed for justice for three generations,” he further added.
