Yunus-backed jihad against Baul and Sufism followers must end

Bangladesh is witnessing the most systematic cultural cleansing since 1971. Baul singers, Sufi practitioners, and anyone who dares to celebrate the syncretic soul of this soil are being hunted down in broad daylight because the Jamaat-backed Yunus-led interim government is rehabilitating the radicals.

The latest victim: renowned Baul artist Abul Sarkar, jailed on blasphemy charges while his supporters are beaten, chased into ponds, and terrorised by masked mobs operating under the banner of “Touhidi Janata”—a group widely believed to be a front for banned jihadist outfits and Jamaat-e-Islami’s armed wing.

From Manikganj to Thakurgaon, the pattern is identical: peaceful gatherings demanding Abul Sarkar’s release are attacked by organised gangs who openly identify themselves as “Touhidi Janata.” Video evidence shows victims being thrashed with iron rods and bamboo sticks; several jumped into ponds to save their lives. Police either stand aside or arrive only after the attackers melt away.

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Senior journalists and analysts are now openly accusing the Yunus-led interim government of deliberately patronising these extremist networks—the same networks that were kept “bottled up” under Sheikh Hasina’s iron-fisted rule.

Who Are the Bauls?

The word “Baul” comes from the Sanskrit “”vatula”—possessed by the wind, mad with divine love. For centuries, Bauls have been the living conscience of Bengal’s composite culture. Lalon Shah, Shah Abdul Karim, and thousands of nameless minstrels sang of a God who lives in the human heart, not in stone idols or rigid dogma. They rejected caste, creed, and sectarian hatred. Their only crime: they insist that a human being is greater than any scripture.

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Yet today, these apostles of love are being branded kafir and hunted like animals.

The Abul Sarkar Case: When Truth Becomes Blasphemy

Abul Sarkar’s “crime” was to point out—in raw, rustic language—the glaring contradictions in the Quran. He said, in his viral video: “Allah’r kothar kono goya-matha nei” (“Allah’s words are inconsistent”).

Crude? Yes. 

False? Not at all.

Renowned Islamic scholar and reformist thinker Mufti Imran bin Bashir, in a courageous 42-minute video analysis, has corroborated Sarkar’s central claim: “The doctrine of naskh (abrogation) proves that verses were changed, added, or cancelled during the Prophet’s lifetime to suit changing circumstances or personal needs.

The Quran itself declares in Surah Baqarah 2:106 that Allah substitutes whatever verse He wishes. Yet in dozens of places (6:115, 18:27, 10:64) it claims, ‘None can change His words’. This is a logical and theological contradiction that no honest scholar can deny.

Moreover, verses that explicitly forbid music and singing (Luqman 31:6, interpreted by classical scholars as referring to musical instruments and idle songs) are still used by hardline clerics to justify violence against Bauls—even though the same Quran has verses preaching tolerance and ‘no compulsion in religion’ (2:256).

Abul Sarkar was factually correct on the inconsistency; he was simply not academically polished. For that, he has been jailed, and his followers are being terrorised.”

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Mufti Imran went further: “If we are serious about living in the 21st century, the violent, supremacist, and misogynistic verses that clash with universal human rights must be openly declared contextual and non-binding today. Otherwise, groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda will always have Quranic justification for their barbarism.”

Masood Kamal Slams Yunus

Veteran journalist Masood Kamal, speaking on his YouTube channel, delivered a scathing indictment: “Show me one Islam. Shia? Sunni? Hanafi? Shafi’i? Salafi? Deobandi? Barelvi? Qadiani? Hizb ut-Tahrir? Each declares the other kafir. Jamaat-e-Islami calls Sufis mushrik and wants shrines demolished. Hefazat-e-Islam calls Jamaat heretics. The same Quran, the same Prophet—yet everyone is ready to kill in His name.

Now a new monster has been unleashed: Touhidi Janata. Everyone in the intelligence community knows they are Jamaat-Shibir cadres wearing new masks, with possible operational overlap with AQIS and IS-Bengal networks. And the Yunus government is giving them free rein because they serve a political purpose: keep society divided, terrified, and distracted while foreign-dictated constitutional changes are rammed through.”

The Yunus Regime’s Faustian Bargain

Multiple sources within the administration have confirmed to The Daily Republic that:

– Touhidi Janata leaders meet regularly with advisers close to Chief Adviser Yunus.

– Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, has been allowed to operate openly under new names.

– Arrests of known Ansarullah Bangla Team and Hizb ut-Tahrir operatives have plummeted since August 2024.

– Police are under strict instructions not to use force against “Touhidi” mobs.

One senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We have clear intelligence that some of these attackers are the same people who were on the CTTC watchlist for Al-Qaeda links. But orders from above are crystal clear: do not touch them.”

Yunus’ Own Religious Beliefs Under Scrutiny

Dr Muhammad Yunus has repeatedly positioned himself as a moderate, liberal Muslim who also supports LGBT rights and has been engaged with interest-based microcredit in contrast to the Quran. Yet critics are now asking pointed questions:

If you truly believe in pluralism and freedom of expression, 

-Why is a Baul singer rotting in jail for pointing out textual contradictions that even reformist ulema acknowledge? 

-Why are jihadist fronts being allowed to attack defenseless artists while you lecture the world on human rights?

If the Quran’s political and penal verses are divine and eternal, then by the same scripture, you yourself would be declared a kafir for running a secular government and taking interest-based Nobel loans.

“So, which Islam do you actually follow, Dr Yunus?,” asks Masood Kamal.

The assault on Bauls is not just an attack on a musical tradition. It is an attack on everything that makes Bangladesh Bengal: its syncretic soul, its tolerance, its refusal to be Talibanised.

As Masood Kamal warned last night: “If the state hands over the cultural keys to Touhidi Janata today, tomorrow they will come for the universities, the courts, and finally for the interim government itself. History is witness: you cannot ride the tiger of jihadism and hope to get off whenever you wish.”

The Abul Sarkar case is no longer about one folk singer. It is about whether Bangladesh will remain a country of Lalon and Tagore,  or be dragged into the dark abyss of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State – with the silent benediction of those currently in power.

Senior journalist and human rights defender Probir Kumar Sarker has demanded immediate unconditional release of Abul Sarkar and an independent judicial inquiry into Touhidi Janata’s links with banned terrorist outfits. He also demanded the public disclosure of Dr Yunus’ stand on reform of violent and supremacist verses in Islamic scripture.

Until then, every baton that falls on a Baul’s back falls on the soul of Bangladesh.