Daily Times

DHAKA: Bangladesh government officials are considering dropping Islam as the country’s national religion after a senior politician claimed Bangladeshi people have embraced a force of secularism.

Ruling Awami League party leading member Dr Abdur Razzak proposed the religion be withdrawn from the country’s constitution during a discussion at the National Press Club in the capital Dhaka. He said that Bangladesh was a country of communal harmony.

Here we live with people from all religions and Islam should not be accommodated as the state religion in the Bangladeshi constitution. “I have said it abroad and now I am saying it again that Islam will be dropped from Bangladesh’s constitution when the time comes.

“The force of secularism is within the people of Bangladesh. There is no such thing as a ‘minority’ in our country.” Dr Razzak added that he believed Islam had been maintained as the state religion for “strategic reasons”, but declined to elaborate on this during the discussion.

Islam is the largest religion in Bangladesh, with a practicing Muslim population of approximately 150 million – making it the fourth largest Muslim population in the world after India, Pakistan and Indonesia. According to a national survey from 2003, religion was the primary way Bangladeshi citizens identified themselves, and atheism was found to be rare.

During a recent speech, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted the importance of “taking care” of those who follow minority religions.