GS Paper - II

Bangladesh’s apex court refused to ban the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Calls for banning the organisation came in response to violence recently, triggered by the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das.

Who demanded the ban on ISKCON Bangladesh?

• Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque and Deputy Attorney General Asad Uddin informed the High Court (as the top court is called in Bangladesh) that three separate cases have been filed in this regard.
• The Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum also staged a protest against the lawyer’s killing and demanded a ban on ISKCON.
• The organisation is associated with Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
• Leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, which led the recent student protests in Bangladesh and played a part in the ouster of Hasina earlier this year, called for a ban as well.
• Bangladesh Attorney-General Mohammad Asaduzzaman urged the court not to take any decisions on the issue and said the government was acting on the matter. ISKCON Bangladesh also refuted allegations linking the organisation to the lawyer’s death.

What is ISKCON and who founded it?

• On its website, ISKCON describes itself as belonging to the “Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradāya, a monotheistic tradition within the Vedic or Hindu culture.
• Philosophically it is based on the Sanskrit texts Bhagavad-gītā and the Bhagavat Purana, or Srimad Bhagavatam.
• These are the historic texts of the devotional bhakti yoga tradition, which teaches that the ultimate goal for all living beings is to reawaken their love for God, or Lord Krishna, the “all-attractive one”.
• Also known as the Hare Krishna Movement, it was founded in New York City in 1966 by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda (1896-1977).
• He hailed from Bengal, which led his organisation to eventually develop a significant presence there, including in present-day Bangladesh.
• ISKCON came up when counterculture, a rejection of societal norms, was at its peak in the United States during the 1960s.

What activities does ISKCON engage in?

• ISKCON today has 650 temples in more than 80 countries, with guest houses, vegetarian restaurants (in line with its worldview) and other attached facilities.
• The organisation also engages in relief work at times. During the Covid-19 lockdown, it said it fed 5,500 people in London, daily.

How has the Indian government reacted?

• The Indian government has repeatedly raised concerns over reports of attacks on Hindu temples in Bangladesh, in the aftermath of the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
• It expressed “deep concern” over Chinmoy’s arrest and urged Dhaka to ensure the safety of Hindus and other minority groups.