Reports that at least three Hindu priests from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness have been detained in the civil upheaval that has rocked Bangladesh since August coincide with Ms. Banerjee's requests.Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally intervene to ensure the safety of religious minorities in the violent neighboring country of Bangladesh and called for the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force there.
In the wake of civil unrest that has rocked Bangladesh since August, when a student-led uprising forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and the Army took control, followed by the installation of an interim government, Ms. Banerjee's demands coincide with reports that at least three Hindu priests, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, have been arrested.
"We have loved ones, families, and properties in Bangladesh. We respect the Indian government's position on this, but we denounce religiously motivated crimes worldwide and urge the prime minister and the union government to step in," she said.
Speaking to the Bengal Assembly, Ms. Banerjee emphasized, "We cannot tolerate it if Indians are attacked in Bangladesh." She also said she had called with the head of ISKCON's Kolkata section to offer her support and sympathy. We are able to return our people. The Indian government can discuss this issue with the UN in order to dispatch a peacekeeping mission.
She said that her government had "rescued them and treated them (well)" when Bangladeshi fisherman had inadvertently entered Indian waters or when a Bangladeshi trawler had capsized, but she was not attempting to meddle in another nation's internal issues.
After discussing this matter with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar last week, Mr. Modi urged Bangladesh's interim government to safeguard religious minorities. The Indian government also voiced grave concerns about the rise in extremist speech and the rise in attacks on Hindu temples and other acts of violence against Hindus in that nation.
Mr. Jaishankar also briefed Parliament following his meeting with the prime minister, stating that the Indian government had taken the violence against minorities in Bangladesh seriously.
He stated that the Indian High Commission in Dhaka is keeping a "close eye" on the situation pertaining to minorities in the country. "The Government of Bangladesh bears primary responsibility for the protection of life and liberty of all citizens of Bangladesh, including minorities," he added.
The Yunus administration has reiterated "in the strongest terms" that all Bangladeshis, irrespective of their faith, are entitled to the "right to establish, maintain or perform respective religious rituals and practices or express views without hindrance."
Radharamn Das, the spokesperson for the religious organization's Kolkata unit, said that Bangladesh had arrested two ISKCON priests on Saturday. He said this was on top of the fact that two devotees had been arrested and that a third, the secretary of one of the priests who had been jailed, had vanished.
Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari's arrest last week marked the beginning of the ISKCON controversy.
He was a former member who was arrested on sedition charges at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, denied bail, and imprisoned. Dhaka claims that the interim government of Bangladesh, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohd Yunus, has "misconstrued" his incarceration.
Protests broke out in Dhaka and Chattogram, a port city in Bangladesh, after Das and another Hindu priest, the leader of the Sammilita Sanatani Jote, were arrested. The demonstrators have been calling for a ministry devoted to minority concerns as well as more robust legal protection.
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