Patriarchy and religious bigotry have shaped our consciousness for a long time now. It is the sole reason why we as a nation are successfully failing to move forward.
On Saturday, a sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was vandalized after open threats from religious extremist groups. By using religion as a shield, bizarre interpretations of their relation, these people are engaging in conspiratorial sedition and creating hatred and division amongst our own people.
The revival of Religious fundamentalism and related political maneuvers in Bangladesh have had severe negative implications for human rights in this country. It has made Bangladesh culturally regressive shaping the politico-cultural landscape of this country.
No fundamentalist ideology ( Christian, Hindu, or Islam) is comfortable with the notion of LGBTQ. In a country like Bangladesh, being anything but a heterosexual is considered a curable disease; satans deed. Let’s put it this way. To be openly gay in Bangladesh is life-threatening. There are no anti-discrimination laws to protect the people belonging to the LGBT community in Bangladesh. Love should be our true religiosity. Love defiance fascism and it is sad that even in the year 2020 we are not yet ready for it.
Over the past years, over 50 people deemed to be ‘enemies of religion’ have been slaughtered in open streets. Secular bloggers, academics, women rights activists, LGBTQ activists, and even bystanders have become the target of these extremists who in the name of Jihad have gone out on a killing spree.
It is therefore not a surprise that we live amid dowry deaths, honor killing, and patriarchal violence.
Religious fundamentalism is a curse for humankind; something we cannot escape anytime soon it seems.
