Bangladesh: Did Hindus Face a Ban from Government Jobs? Fact Check

This story was originally published by The Quint, and republished by The Probe as part of the Shakti Collective.

Bangladesh Government Denies Claims of Banning Hindus from Government Jobs

News organisations and social media users have shared posts and reports, claiming that the Bangladesh government has banned "entries of Hindus" in government jobs.

• Some posts carrying a purported quote by the country's Adviser for Home Affairs Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, claiming that he said that since "Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country... Muslims will get priority" for police posts or government jobs.

• This information was carried in reports by ABP Live, India.com, and Republic Bharat, and was also shared by X (formerly Twitter) user '@TimesAlgebraIND', which was viewed by over 11 lakh users.

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim on social media can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.)

Is it true? 

No, the claim is false.

• We did not find any credible news reports or press releases corroborating the viral claim.

• Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus' press wing issued a clarification, rubbishing the claim.

How did we find out the truth?

We ran a keyword search in English and Banla, using the term 'Bangladesh Hindus banned from jobs' [বাংলাদেশে হিন্দুদের চাকরি নিষিদ্ধ] to look for more information.

• These searches did not yield any credible results from Indian or Bangladeshi sources.

• We also used the purported quote by Home Affairs Adviser Chowdhury about Muslims getting prioritised for government jobs, as a search term to find if and when he had said it.

• Again, the search did not return any credible results.

• Neither did the country's website for the Ministry of Home Affairs have any such announcement, nor did their social media handles.

• However, the Facebook page of the Press Wing of the Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus shared a post on 2 January 2025, which carried a screenshot of the claim.

• In this post, they called the post "completely false," adding that "the quote of the Home Affairs adviser mentioned in the post is also false."

Conclusion

The claim that the Bangladesh government has banned Hindu citizens from government jobs is false.

This Fact Check story was originally published by The Quint, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline/excerpt/opening introduction para this story has not been edited by The Probe staff.