Several prominent members of Bangladesh’s civil society on Monday condemned the arrest of a ‘baul’ singer on charges of “hurting” public sentiment, as well as the subsequent attacks by Islamists on fellow mystic minstrels in recent days.

In a joint statement signed by 250 distinguished citizens, they argued that religious tensions have escalated since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

“In the period following the July mass uprising (that toppled prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League regime in 2024), religious extremism has surged,” the statement said.

According to the signatories, a specific group has positioned itself as a “sole agent” of Islam and initiated a nationwide purge. Their “weapon of choice” has been invoking supposed affronts to public sentiment, thereby creating a “suffocating situation,” they added.

The statement further alleged: “Demolishing more than 200 shrines, declaring countless individuals murtad-kafir-shatim, exhuming and burning body, forcibly cutting the hair of bauls and fakirs on the street, harassing women over movement and attire, and disrupting programmes involving dance, music, theatre, and even sports and fairs -- eradication of people of different opinions and practices appears to be their objective.”

Most of the signatories were academics known for opposing the previous Awami League regime, including economist Professor Anu Mohammad and Prof Salimullah Khan. They accused law enforcement authorities of failing to curb “mob terror or vigilantism.”

Instead, they said, authorities have “encouraged it (mob violence) by maintaining silence -- trying to downplay incidents by calling them 'pressure groups', and even detaining victims or attacking survivors in fabricated cases.”

Rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) voiced “deep concerns” over the assault on the arrested singer’s followers.

In a separate statement, Transparency International Bangladesh warned that the developments point to a troubling rise in threats to religious harmony.

Poet and activist Farhad Mazhar, speaking at a protest rally in Dhaka, cautioned that a new strain of “religious fascism” was taking shape in Bangladesh.

“Arresting him (Sarkar) means arresting me. I will not accept this,” said Mazhar, a longstanding critic of the former Awami League administration. Mazhar is the husband of one of the advisory council members serving under interim government head Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Police arrested popular ‘baul’ singer Abul Sarkar during a music event in Madaripur, accusing him of “deliberately” inciting unrest and hurting religious sentiments. He was presented before a court in Manikganj and jailed the same day.

Two days later, Islamists associated with the Tawhidi Janata group attacked other singers during a rally demanding Sarkar’s release on the northern outskirts of Dhaka, leaving four seriously injured.

Cultural experts noted that ‘bauls’, such as Lalan Shah, represent a centuries-old syncretic and liberal tradition in Bangladesh, predating the modern “puritan movements” espoused by groups like Tawhidi Janata.

Left-leaning student organisations and cultural activists staged torch marches in Dhaka and at Jahangirnagar University on Sunday evening to protest the violence. A group of baul singers and artistes also demonstrated outside the National Press Club, demanding Sarkar’s release; he is affectionately known as “Moharaj” among admirers.

Since last year, mobs aligned with Tawhidi Janata have disrupted cultural events, destroyed multiple Sufi shrines, and carried out attacks on minority groups, particularly Hindus.

Human rights lawyer Sara Hossain criticised the authorities in an interview with The Business Standard (TBS).

“I think the government's position here is problematic. They should be taking action against groups that resort to violence against others. And there is also a question of why such cases are being accepted so easily,” she said.

She added that much had been said in the past year about freedom of expression, asking “what it means, how it was suppressed, and how it was enforced.”

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, cultural affairs adviser in the interim government, wrote on Facebook that the “Ministry of Home Affairs is trying to handle this 'extremely delicate and sensitive matter' with the utmost responsibility.”

However, he added that repression of ‘bauls’ was longstanding and had occurred under successive governments, including the ousted Awami League administration. “You will find numerous instances where Bauls were attacked — their hair cut off, their instruments destroyed.”

Professor Yunus’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, described the attacks as “deplorable” and said the administration was working to identify the perpetrators.

The Business Standard, however, criticised the government’s response, writing that “condemnation without action rings hollow — especially when attackers operate publicly and with apparent impunity.” The paper called Farooki’s comments “a rather poor defence for a government, which came on the promises of undoing all ills of Awami League.”