Hindutva activists in Tripura protest against arrest of Hindu priest in B’desh

Agartala, Nov 26 (IANS) A day after Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was arrested in Bangladesh on charges of sedition, a group of Hindutva activists and social workers Tuesday evening staged a candlelight protest in Agartala.

The protestors organised their vociferous protest in front of Ujjayanta Palace here, the former abode of Tripura’s erstwhile Manikya dynasty which now turned into a museum.

They demanded immediate and unconditional release of the priest by Bangladesh authorities.

The protesters claimed the move of the caretaker government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus arrested Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, who is seen as the “voice of Sanatana Hindus” in Bangladesh on sedition charges after he appealed to Hindus to stay united in the country.

Terming the arrest as “barbaric” and “unacceptable”, Biplab Kanti Bhowmik, founder of a social organisation called ‘Srestha Bhubon Samajik Sanstha’, said, “We have seen through social media that Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari of Bangladesh, who is the voice of Sanatani Hindus in that country, was arrested at Bangladesh Airport and was illegally taken way.”

He was taken from Dhaka to Chittagong and was produced in a court there, he said.

Instead of granting him bail, the Sanatani Hindus who gathered there were assaulted by barbaric soldiers of the caretaker government, Bhowmik said.

“We demand that he (Chinmay Prabhu) be unconditionally released immediately”.

The protesters also claimed that Hindu minorities in Bangladesh are facing atrocities and the arrest of their voice Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, who had asked Sanatani Hindus to stay united, can’t be accepted.

Bhowmik appealed to all Sanatani Hindus in Tripura to protest the “illegal” arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.

According to media reports ISKCON Secretary General in Bangladesh Charu Chanda Das Brahmachari also severely criticised the Bangladeshi authorities for arresting Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari who is also associated with ISKCON Bangladesh.

After being taken into custody by the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday, Das was produced before Judge Kazi Shariful Islam of Chittagong's 6th Metropolitan Magistrate on Tuesday.

The judge, after rejecting his bail plea, sent the Hindu priest - associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - to jail.

--IANS

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