‘No Non-Muslims In Bangladesh Parliament’: Jamaat Candidate's Speech Raises Alarm Over Radical Push

Last Updated:January 24, 2026, 20:26 IST

Sources said that this speech is nothing but a deliberate attempt to radicalise people and push them towards extremist ideology.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Afzal Hossain. (Image: News18)

Ahead of Bangladesh parliamentary elections, a candidate from Jamaat-e-Islami triggered a row after he called for excluding religious minorities, including Hindus, from Parliament and advocated governance strictly based on the Quran.

While addressing a rally, Afzal Hossain, Jamaat candidate from Barguna-2 constituency, said that in a country where nearly 80 per cent of the population is Muslim, there should be no non-believer or “immoral" representative in Parliament.

“Do you want the Quran or do you want deviation?" Hossain asked the crowd. He went on to say that Jamaat-e-Islami would establish a parliamentary system based on the Quran, asserting that Bangladesh is a Muslim country.

He also rejected the idea of a constitutional framework and supported Quran-based punishments, including the cutting off of thieves’ hands, claiming it would eliminate crime.

Top government sources told CNN-News18 that the incident exposed how radical narratives are being injected into electoral politics under the cover of religious mobilisation. Sources warned that such speeches amount to ideological extremism, which could fuel radicalisation and create cross-border instability, particularly in sensitive border regions.

Sources said that this speech is nothing but a deliberate attempt to radicalise people and push them towards extremist ideology.

The remarks have drawn criticism for violating democratic norms by openly advocating the exclusion of religious minorities from parliamentary representation.

These remarks came amid rising violence against minorities, especially Hindus, in the neighbouring country. Several Hindu individuals have been assaulted and attacked in Bangladesh after violent protests erupted in the neighbouring country following the death of July uprising organiser Sharif Osman Hadi in Singapore.

Recently, the house of a Hindu family was targeted and set ablaze in Sylhet, causing fear among the family and the community.

Last week, a Hindu auto driver was beaten to death by a group of attackers in Daganbhuiyan in Bangladesh’s Chittagong. Prolay Chaki, a musician and the cultural affairs secretary of the Awami League’s Pabna district unit, died in prison on Sunday night after reportedly suffering a heart attack.

Earlier, a Hindu man, identified as Joy Mahapatro, was allegedly beaten and later poisoned by a local Muslim, named Amirul Islam.

In another horrific incident, a Hindu woman was allegedly gang-raped by two men, who also tied her to a tree and cut off her hair in a glaring display of lawlessness and atrocities against minorities in the country.

Earlier, another Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was lynched and burnt to death in Mymensingh over alleged blasphemy. After thrashing and killing Das, the mob hung his body from a tree and set it on fire.

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