The Making of Minorities in Bangladesh: Legacies, Policies and Practice

Abstract

In the context of growing global extremism, Bangladesh is often alluded to as a moderate Muslim majority country. This has given Bangladesh policy makers a better position to negotiate with the western world than other countries in the region which showed more visible signs of radicalization. At the same time, any signs of internal dissension arising between majoritarian state policies and religious and ethnic minorities in the domestic space could be drowned out by referring to the Bangladesh Constitution, where technically speaking the word ‘minority’ was not used. To truly understand the dynamics that were and continue to be working in the state of Bangladesh with respect to rights of minorities, religious and ethnic, we need to understand not so much the presence or absence of the term ‘minority’ in the constitution but rather the constitutional construction of minorities in the Bangladeshi state and the debates ensuing from it to the laws, politics and governance that dictated its development.