Parochialism splits Bangladeshis in New York

The Bangladeshi community has been rapidly growing in the United States especially in New York, but unfortunately the community does not have any single platform to talk about the issues faced by Bangladeshi immigrants. If the community speaks its problems in one voice, then the mainstream political parties would listen to the issues and they would try to find the solutions. Instead of taking under a single banner, the community has hundreds of small and tiny associations, which are unable to exert any influence in the mainstream local elections. For example, there are more than fifty Sylheti and Chittagonian organisations in New York. These associations are not only responsible for the disintegration of the Bangladeshi community, but also for the rising spate of internal feuds within the community. The community should work together for the betterment of the community as a whole instead of narrow and shallow regionalism.

Nawfal Thalukdhar
Woodside, NY, USA