Dhaka, Nov 29 (Representative) ISKCON Bangladesh on Thursday claimed that the Hindu organisation was not involved in the protests pressing for the release of its former leader Chinmoy Krishna Das and said that it would not take any liability for his “crime”. Addressing a press conference at Swamibag Temple in the capital’s Ganderia area, the ISKCON Bangladesh general secretary Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari said they had expelled Chinmoy Krishna Das and two others from their posts of the organisation several months ago as their activities went against the organisation’s constitution, newagebd reported. “We demanded that the government, people and journalists should find out the truth behind spreading falsehood over ISKCON,” said Charu Chandra Das, hours after the High Court dismissed a petition demanding a ban on ISKCON in Bangladesh. He also claimed that the organisation was not linked to the murder of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif in Chattogram. Charu Das described the Chattogram incident as “unfortunate” and claimed that there was an “unfair attempt” to falsely implicate ISKCON. “We want to make it clear that ISKCON Bangladesh has no involvement whatsoever in this heinous incident or the ongoing protests. The lies have now reached such an extent that even road accidents are being falsely portrayed as part of ISKCON’s conspiracy,” he said. On Tuesday, government lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was killed and 25 others injured during a clash between followers of Chinmoy and law enforcement agencies in a Chattogram court premises over sending Chinmoy to jail in a sedition case. The lawyer’s death triggered protests in Dhaka, Chattogram and other districts in the country. Charu Das stressed that ISKCON Bangladesh is promoting unity and harmony, and added said that it had never been involved in communal or conflict-driven activities. Charu Das said ISKCON had made its position clear in several press conferences and had communicated directly with government officials to deny the accusations.
He said, “However, certain quarters are deliberately spreading false propaganda against our organisation and making unreasonable demands to ban ISKCON.” Charu Das said that since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on Aug 5, certain groups have been making “misleading statements and baseless allegations” to “create instability in society” and “discredit” their organisation. He added that the Prabartak Sri Krishna Temple’s Principal Leelaraj Gour Das, member Swatantra Gourang Das, and the Pundrik Dham’s Principal Chinmoy Das, were relieved from all organisational duties and positions within ISKCON months ago for “violating organisational discipline”. Therefore, their activities are not part of ISKCON’s operations. This official statement came after calls from different quarters in Bangladesh to ban ISKCON, following the murder of lawyer Saiful. Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the principal of the ISKCON-run temple Pundarik Dham in Chattogram, is leading an organisation called the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jote. Since the change in power on August 5, the alliance has been vocal in demanding an end to minority persecution, among other eight key demands. On October 30, a sedition case was filed against Chinmoy Das and 19 others for an incident involving the placement of a saffron flag over the national flag. Police detained Chinmoy from Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport on Monday. On Tuesday, a Chattogram court denied him bail and ordered his remand, leading to protests by the Hindu community outside the court.
The protest lasted for around two and a half hours before police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd. During the running battles between protesters and court lawyers and staff, lawyer Saiful was killed. A coordinator of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement called for the banning of ISKCON in Bangladesh. A lawyer also filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding the same, although the higher court did not issue any such order. On Wednesday evening, a truck struck a car in the convoy of student leaders Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah on the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway as they were returning from the funeral of lawyer Saiful. The incident was later hinted as an “attempted murder” by two coordinators of the movement, who posted about it on Facebook. Meanwhile, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said today that no discussion took place in the Advisory Council about banning ISKCON or any other organisation, “One individual has been arrested on the basis of specific information. Legal action is underway against them. They could be accused or not, it’s a matter for the court. We are not mixing up an individual’s crime with an organisation,” she said in response to the questions from journalists on the ISKCON issue at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.