Bangladesh’s interim government tallied 645 incidents targeting minorities in 2025. It classified 574 of them as “criminal, not communal.”
The people being attacked aren’t making that distinction.
What 18 Months of Violence Look Like
When Sheikh Hasina fled on August 5, 2024 — ending 15 years in power — a security vacuum swallowed Bangladesh’s minorities overnight. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council documented 2,010 incidents between August 4-20 alone: 152 temples damaged, 1,705 families hit, homes and businesses looted or burned.
That was supposed to be the worst of it. It wasn’t.
By November 2024, the BHBCUC reported 82 Hindus killed and 2,673 total atrocities. In December 2025, a 27-year-old Hindu garment worker named Dipu Chandra Das was lynched by a mob in Mymensingh over alleged blasphemy. NPR confirmed this week that vigilante attacks are still accelerating. The pattern didn’t peak and fade — it settled in.
Then there’s the quiet exclusion. In January 2026, Bangladesh promoted 118 government officers. Not one was Hindu. Hindus once comprised 22% of East Pakistan’s population. Today they’re under 9% — and the exits keep getting wider.
India’s Red Line — and Its Bind
Delhi didn’t hedge. The MEA called the killings “a grave concern” and said minority attacks “cannot be brushed aside.” India summoned Bangladesh’s envoy. Retaliatory visa freezes disrupted cross-border medical travel. Protests erupted across Indian cities. The stance reflects India’s role as a stabilizing regional power — and its limits at this border.
But Bangladesh is a neighbour of 170 million people. Push too hard and you destabilize the border. Push too softly and you signal that minority persecution next door is tolerable. Unlike situations where India’s active military response to regional security challenges provides leverage, Delhi has no easy instruments here. Human Rights Watch says the Yunus government is “falling short.” The government itself insists most incidents were criminal disputes — not communal targeting.
That framing is the whole fight. When a mob lynches a man over blasphemy and the state files it under “criminal,” the label decides whether this is a law-and-order hiccup or a systemic crisis. For India, for 15 million Bangladeshi Hindus, and for the Yunus government’s credibility, everything turns on which word wins.