Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is at the centre of a controversy for hosting an iftar meal in Sylhet for Hindu participants with a plater including beef. The iftar relishes provided at the venue did not have any alternative to beef, thereby sparking uproar on social media.

The Iftar party hosted by BNP’s Sylhet unit was attended by at least 20 party leaders and Hindu activists on Thursday, according to reports in national dailies in Bangladesh. The event is usually attended by Muslims and members of other communities, but when all plates had beef along with other dishes, it triggered angry reactions.

Even invited journalists from Hindu communities were reportedly offered beef. Following the incident, BNP’s local Hindu participants took to Facebook to condemn the organisers.

“In the absence of any alternative to beef, I along with 20 other Hindu colleagues had to watch all the Muslim leaders and activists breaking their fasts,” wrote Mantu Nath, a local BNP member, expressing his anger over the invite.

Describing the arrangement as a farce, Kanak Kanti Das, a local leader of BNP’s student body, said, “ You enjoyed your iftar and we [Hindu invitees] were just left gazing”.

Without offering any apology, BNP Sylhet district leaders later acknowledged the faux pas . This has led some to rewind BNP and Jamaat’s proven track record of systematic attacks on minorities.

Columnist and Ekushey Padak awardee Ajoy Das Gupta said the military rulers who had taken over and ruled Bangladesh for 15 years legitimised the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami. They also introduced constitutional amendments that undermined the country’s secular democratic polity and finally declared Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh.

He said some parties like BNP and its ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, have tried to restore the “Pakistan military-fundamentalist model of radical Islam” but failed.

Even during the 2001-2006 tenure of the BNP, the emergence of Tarique Rahman as the de facto leader of the party was followed by a systematic pogrom against Hindus that led to large-scale systematic land grabbing, attacks on temples and businesses and rape of women belonging to Hindu community.

While in opposition, BNP has been accused of aiding Jamaat in perpetrating attacks on Hindus during the war crime trials. Involvement of BNP and Jamaat elements has been found during the recent attacks during the 2021 Durga puja violence.