December 23, 2024

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RISING RADICALISM

AS the sedan ferrying three pilgrims along National Highway 106 in Chittagong, 250 km from capital city Dhaka, stopped at the gates of the Pundarik Dham in the rural enclave of Mekhal, the travellers were overcome by a sense of reverence. Believed to be the birthplace of the Vaishnavite seer Pundarik Vidyanidhi, a contemporary of the great 16th century saint Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the verdant 21-acre campus is an oasis of calm, dotted with flowering plants and abundant water bodies. Built in 1921, the temple's management was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 1982. Today, it is a favourite pilgrimage spot for Bangladesh's minority Hindus. And it was this piece of divinity that the three visitors on that day had come to partake in. Except that the air of serenity was soon broken by the heavily armed security personnel stationed outside the temple, who sprang up to enforce a security check. Though the men were waved through quickly, there was no missing the undercurrent of tensionIn recent weeks, this spiritual haven has become the epicentre of a temporal tempest that has strained relations between India and the new political dispensation in Bangladesh led by the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, chief advisor of the country's interim government. In the eye of the storm is the tonsured Chinmoy Krishna Das, the temple's president, and vocal critic of atrocities against minorities. Arrested on November 25 on charges of sedition, his detention has triggered a cascade of violent events that has left the Hindus in Bangladesh living in anxiety and fear. The fallout has been swift and severeAdvocates defending Das clashed with groups aligned with the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Over 70 Hindu lawyers were charged with violence, further fuelling tensions. In a brutal escalation, young lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was hacked to death, igniting outrage. Local Hindu residents were detained by police under questionable circumstances, their homes and temples vandalised by unidentified miscreants. Meanwhile, the desecration of the Indian flag at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka and in a few other educational institutions saw a backlash in India. Protesters in Tripura capital Agartala attacked the Bangladeshi deputy high commission, which in turn sparked counter-protests here.

RISE OF THE QUICK BRIGADE

IT is almost midnight. Thirtynine-year-old Pallavi Pareek, founder of Bengaluru-based gender laws advisory firm Ungender, realises she has run out of sanitary napkins as she prepares to go to bed. She picks up her smartphone, taps on a quick commerce app and places her order. Within 10 minutes, she has a packet on her doorstep. "Q-commerce is the backbone of my household," says Pallavi, who relies on these platforms for last-minute needs and daily groceries, over-the-counter medicines and even giftsWhat began as a solution for last-minute and impulse purchases has fast become a necessity, especially for professionals like Pallavi, forever pressed for time in their fast-paced lives in the metros. Q-commerce has become a way of life for people like her, allowing them to reclaim valuable hours, without having to worry about traffic or parking. Not to mention the convenience of getting almost anything--from a missing ingredient in a recipe to a hair dryer to an item of clothing--in a matter of 10-15 minutes. "It's like having a personal concierge," says PallaviThe market has grown more than 61 times since 2020 and is expected to expand further, as per retail consultancy Datum Intelligence. From $3.5 billion (Rs 29,635 crore) in 2023, it grew by 74 per cent to $6.1 billion (Rs 51,635 crore) in 2024 and is projected to reach a staggering $40.1 billion (Rs 3.39 lakh crore) by 2030. "This is a drastic shift in the Indian consumer market, known for its value-driven consumers," says Rajeev Singh, partner and consumer industry leader at consulting firm Deloitte Asia Pacific. "Especially among the affluent and middle-class families, convenience is taking over and they are willing to pay for it."