Bangladeshi nationalism is \\\'cocktail philosophy\\\': Inu

FE Team | Published: December 21, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, MP, said Saturday Bangladeshi nationalism is a "cocktail philosophy", reports BSS.
The minister was addressing a meeting of marginal social groups' network, NNMC, at the Institution of Engineers. The topic of the discussion was "Human rights of Indigenous and Dalits."
The information minister, also president of JSD, said after the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 BNP introduced the Bangladeshi nationalism concept.
The concept denies the Bengali nation its identity, it denies the identity of the smaller ethnic groups, too, he added.
"It is not a concept for synthesis of different nationalities, it is an idea to deny identity to all groups", he said.
"It is an idea to deny democracy, to evict the indigenous people and a heinous design to make Bengalis of indigenous people," the minister explained.
"To establish his idea Ziaur Rahman had sent some poor, homeless Bengalis in the '70s to grab the land of the indigenous people, "he recalled.
Inu further said those who were fighting to keep the rights of different ethnic groups should be aware of the danger of communalism and militancy.
Inu appealed for the creation of a casteless society and appealed for a "land commission" for the plain land indigenous people. Simultaneously "Indigenous rights' law" needs to be enacted to protect them, he said adding the government is actively considering both.
He expressed the hope that the Upper House would be established in Bangladesh one day.
Others who spoke at the seminar included litterateur Selina Hossain, Professor Mesbah Kamal, distinguished writer and Professor Dr Hari Shankar Jaladas, and Anik Samad, Bangladesh representative for the Switzerland-based human rights' organisation, Heks.
Dr Sadeqa Halim of Dhaka University read out the key note paper.
Earlier, the minster inaugurated a fair of ethnic products on the premises of the Institution of Engineers.