Join Professor Masum Billah in our latest SADF Podcast Faith and Freedom – The Battle for Secularism in Bangladesh, as he warns of rising extremism, minority persecution, and calls for urgent reforms to safeguard secularism and justice.
*SADF Podcast: Faith and Freedom – The Battle for Secularism in Bangladesh*
In this compelling episode, we welcome **Professor Masum Billah**, Visiting Fellow at Cote D’ Azure University, Nice, France. Professor Billah shares his deep concerns about the future of secularism in Bangladesh, a core ideal from the nation’s war of independence.
He warns that without a cultural renaissance, Bangladesh risks becoming an extreme country.
Professor Billah highlights the atrocities committed against religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh post-August 5, 2025, and criticizes the prevailing mobocracy culture. He passionately advocates for the establishment of a *Minority Rights Commission* and a **Ministry of Minority Affairs**, along with the enactment of protective laws to ensure a discrimination-free society and justice for minorities.
Join us for an insightful discussion on the urgent need for political and civil society commitment to protect secularism and minority rights in Bangladesh.
Hosted by: Tapas Kanti Baul, South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF
Discover our Newsletter on First-hand accounts from minorities across South Asia — read here
Madalena Casaca
Madalena Casaca is SADF’s Editor and part-time Researcher for the Democracy Research Programme. Ms Casaca is a graduate in European Studies (graduated 2008) from the University of Lisbon, where she explored with high productivity not only European and Western Social Sciences but also African Studies, Russian Studies, and Anthropology. Ms Casaca also completed a yearly Documentary Programme in Prague in 2012/2013 and attended the Film School of the University of Wales in Newport in 2011/2012, where all the basics of visual communication were explored and developed. Less
A one-year investment was made in Moscow studying the Russian language, of which she holds the B2 degree. Madalena began a Master’s degree in World History at the Moscow State University, where she completed the first semester, receiving the highest marks in all courses. She had to return to Portugal for personal reasons and now raises her young daughters in Lisbon. She is transforming her Masters’ Diploma on World History into a non-academic book.