ISKCON under 'concerted attack', facing 'wrath of radicals' in Bangladesh: BJP's Suvendu Adhikari

'If the radicals plan to go ahead with the sinister plan of attacking ISKCON, they won't be able to handle the consequences,' he said in a post on X.

In the wake of communal tensions in Bangladesh's Chattogram, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Friday expressed his concerns over what we called a "concerted attack" on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Hindu Vaishnavite religious organisation in the neighbouring country.

On Friday, November 8, he posted a video on social media platform X, where a group of people can be seen carrying out a procession raising slogans against the presence of ISKCON in Bangladesh.

"This video was recorded this morning around 11 am, when a procession of radicals were going from Teri Bazar to Cheragi in Chattogram with the motive of instigating communal tensions. Listen to the slogans they were raising: 'There is no place for ISKCON in this Bangla, Burn down ISKCON, torch ISKCON's addresses, Raze down ISKCON, demolish ISKCON's addresses,'" Adhikari claimed in his post.

DH could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

"They are facing the wrath of a section of radicals in Bangladesh just because their Monks and Brahmacharis are being vocal about the persecution of the Minority Hindu Community and they are trying to help these helpless people," the West Bengal BJP leader further claimed.

Issuing a warning against the 'radicals', Adhikari said, "I am personally a devotee of the Hare Krishna Movement just like millions of people around the world. If the radicals plan to go ahead with the sinister plan of attacking ISKCON, they won't be able to handle the consequences."

Officials and witnesses in Bangladesh had earlier said that tensions flared up in Chattogram over a Facebook post of a trader named Osman Ali on Tuesday, November 5, calling ISKCON a “terrorist group”, which angered the Hindu community in the neighbourhood at Hazari Gali area.

The Hazari Gali in Bangladesh is mainly inhabited by the Hindu community who run ornament shops and wholesale medicine outlets. Witnesses said several people were wounded as the army, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and policemen used batons during a brief overnight clash while shops and businesses were shut at the area where army troops were patrolling in their jeeps alongside police.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal condemned the alleged attack on the members of the Hindu community in Bangladesh.

(With PTI inputs)