DU, other varsity students demand ban on ISKCON

DU Correspondent :

Students from Dhaka University and other universities across Bangladesh staged protests against the violent, extremist, and anti-national activities of ISKCON followers, urging the government to ban the foreign organization.

At Dhaka University, students held a march on campus Thursday at 11 pm, condemning ISKCON for alleged killings, abductions, death threats, and extremist acts nationwide. During the protest, participants chanted slogans including “ISKCON, you are a militant, a partner of tyranny,” “Catch one ISKCON follower, hold it and send to jail,” and “ISKCON and tyranny, one and the same.”

Mahtap Islam, Dhaka University General Secretary of Chhatra Adhikar Parishad, highlighted the abduction and torture of Khatib Mohibullah in Panchagarh by ISKCON members for speaking against militancy. He said, “India is still using ISKCON to create instability in Bangladesh. We strongly condemn these incidents and want to make it clear that just as we rejected dictatorship, we will also reject ISKCON from this country.”

Sadman Abdullah, General Secretary of Salimullah Muslim Hall Students Union, accused ISKCON of being a militant organization involved in crimes including the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Gazipur, and demanded the group be immediately banned.

Dhaka College students also marched from the Central Mosque through Science Lab and Nilkhet, ending at the college main gate. Chants called for direct action against ISKCON. Student Jihad Hossain urged authorities to swiftly punish those responsible for recent kidnappings and murders, stressing that opposition to extremist and anti-state groups does not target any religion.

Students of Jessore University of Science and Technology (JUST) also held a protest march, declaring ISKCON banned from their campus. Jalish Mahmud, a student of the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, said, “Despite Bangladesh being a Muslim-majority country, we are being deprived, humiliated, and oppressed in our own homeland.”

The protests reflect growing student opposition to ISKCON’s activities across Bangladesh, with repeated calls for the government to take legal action and formally ban the organization.