A Secular State Must Defend Indigenous Minorities | Column

Opinion. A secular state earns its name not by ignoring religion but by protecting everyone equally, including those outside the majority faith. Bangladesh’s marking of Indigenous Peoples Day this week put that test in sharp relief.

At the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, activists gathered to honour indigenous communities. They also warned of rising violence, land grabs and repression, with indigenous women facing particular danger.

Why a secular state must act

Secularism is often framed as a quarrel with belief. It is not. At its best, it is a promise that the state serves citizens on equal terms, whatever their faith, language or ancestry.

Indigenous peoples test that promise. Many follow traditions that sit outside the dominant religion. When their land rights and cultures are eroded, the failure is not only social. It is a failure of the secular ideal itself.

Equal protection, not selective concern

Free thought means little if it applies only to the comfortable. A consistent secularist defends the animist, the atheist and the believer alike. Rights that bend to majority pressure are privileges in disguise.

Bangladesh’s constitution carries secular roots. Yet minorities still report intimidation and impunity for their attackers. Traditional knowledge and heritage vanish when the state looks away. Recognition without enforcement is a hollow courtesy.

The remedy is not grand theory. It is ordinary justice, delivered evenly. Investigate attacks. Secure land titles. Let indigenous voices shape the policies that govern their lives. Treat their protection as a duty, not a favour.

History offers a warning here. When states pick which minorities deserve protection, they rarely stop at one group. The same logic that abandons the indigenous today can be turned on the dissenter or the freethinker tomorrow.

A society reveals its values at the margins. If Bangladesh wants its secular heritage to mean something, it must guard the communities most easily forgotten. That is the quiet, unglamorous work a secular state is meant to do. See also our column on why secularism is not the enemy of religious freedom.

Fact basis: IANS and The Daily Star reporting on Indigenous Peoples Day events, 11–12 August 2026. This is an opinion column and reflects the writer’s view.