The post-election violence in Bangladesh (2001) specifically targeted the Hindu minority population though in a broader frame it also encompassed Awami League (AL) supporters and other progressive forces in the rural areas. The violence has largely been known to be initiated by Bangladesh National Party (BNP) supporters in various localities. The backlash after the elections was systematic and severe. Bangladeshi press has reported that attackers have entered Hindu homes, beaten family members and looted their property. Rape and abduction of women too were reported. Though these attacks were condemned by national as well as international institutions, a silencing process has also been at work both as a result of terrorising policies of the ruling party as well as the self-censoring practices of the liberal civil society. It is the roots of this silencing process, which I wish to highlight in this article, because it unpacks questions of class hegemony in the current Bangladesh state. I therefore locate the question of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the broader frame of the class discourse.

CLASS FORMATION THROUGH EXTORTION: A BACKGROUND

In the aftermath of independence, it was thought by some scholars that Bangladesh had a ruling class but it was not a hegemonic one. The reason behind this proposition was that the power base of the then AL who had an absolute majority in parliament, was predominantly petit bourgeois and the rural rich, who did not have enough control over the military–bureaucratic oligarchy traditionally controlling the ‘overdeveloped’ Pakistan state.