Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta, who was dropped from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet, today criticised the Bangladesh government for failing to prevent attacks on Hindus.
"The state has failed to protect them (Hindus) because of its inaction," said Sengupta, a well-known leader of the minority community".
"Nine days have passed since the elections, but the situation of the minorities has not changed, although the political situation in the country has become almost stable after a new government took office," he said during a discussion here.
Sengupta, a former Railways Minister who was later made a minister without portfolio in Hasina's previous government, was denied a ministerial berth in the new Cabinet.
Hindus were attacked across the country during and after the January 5 general election by opposition activists who accused them of backing the Awami League. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies boycotted by polls.
Authorities have blamed the BNP and its right-wing ally Jamaat-e-Islami for the violence against the Hindus.
"Such incidents are unexpected when a secular government is in office. No minister has visited the victims," Sengupta was quoted as saying by Bdnews24.
The government has decided to set up special tribunals under an anti-terrorism law to punish the perpetrators of violence against the minorities.
