‘Too tolerant’: Jagdeep Dhankhar on Hindus attacked in India's neighbourhood

There have been reports of widespread attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh since the ouster of its PM Sheikh Hasina in August.

Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday flagged attacks on Hindus in neighbourhood, questioning “defeaning silence” of “so-called moral preachers”.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Foundation Day function of the National Human Rights Commission, in New Delhi.(PTI)

"They are mercenaries of something which is totally antithetical to human rights," PTI quoted Dhankhar while addressing the foundation day celebrations 

"We are too tolerant and being too tolerant to such transgressions is not appropriate. Think if you were one of those," the vice president said.

"Look at the kind of barbarity, torture, traumatised experience of boys, girls, and women," he said, adding look at our religious places being subjected to sacrilege.

However, he did not name any country.

Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

Dhankhar's remarks can be attributed to reports of widespread attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh since its prime minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster in August. According to a PTI report, at least 17 people have been arrested and about a dozen cases registered after “untoward incidents” during the Durga Puja celebrations in Bangladesh. 

Hindus constitute just about 8 per cent of the 17 crore Bangladesh population. They faced vandalism of their businesses, and properties and destruction of temples during the student-led violence that led to Hasina's ouster.

The plight of Hindus in Pakistan is no better. In September, ANI quoted a Gatestone report which stated that the religious minorities in Pakistan, mainly Hindu and Christian women and children, continue to be oppressed and persecuted. They face the risk of being kidnapped, forcibly converted, raped, and coerced into a "marriage" with an older or elderly man.

‘Pernicious forces trying to show India in a bad colour’: Dhankhar

During his address, Dhankhar said,"There are pernicious forces, that in a structured manner, seek to unfairly seek to taint us and these forces have a sinister design to use international fora to question our human rights record."

He also said that India does not like to be sermonised or lectured on human rights.

He described Partition, imposition of Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as traumatising events which "stand as sombre reminder of fragility of liberty".

(With PTI inputs)