25 Indigenous Organizations Protest Home Minister Salahuddin’s “No Indigenous People” Remark

25 Indigenous organizations protest remarks denying the existence of Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh.

25 Indigenous organizations protest that was the response on August 13, 2026, two days after Bangladesh’s Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed publicly rejected the existence of a separate Indigenous identity in the country.

Ahmed made the remarks on August 11, 2026, at a roundtable titled “Indigenous Identity Is Irrelevant for Bangladesh,” organized by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Research Foundation at the Crowne Plaza Dhaka Gulshan.

Speaking as the chief guest, Salahuddin Ahmed argued that everyone living within Bangladesh shares one constitutional and national identity: Bangladeshi. He went further, saying that Bangladesh has no Indigenous groups.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan, who attended the same event as a special guest, also argued that the term “Indigenous” was irrelevant in the context of Bangladesh.

The remarks immediately triggered anger among Indigenous communities.

25 Indigenous Organizations Respond

Two days later, on August 13, 2026, 25 Indigenous student, youth, women’s and cultural organizations issued a joint statement rejecting the ministers’ remarks. The statement was sent to the media on behalf of the organizations by Monira Tripura, general secretary of the Bangladesh Indigenous Youth Forum.

The organizations described the ministers’ statements as objectionable and inconsistent with history and reality. Their response was significant because organizations representing different Indigenous peoples and communities came together around one fundamental issue: the right to define their own identity.

The 25 organizations were:

Bangladesh Marma Students Council
Tripura Students’ Forum, Bangladesh
Bangladesh Tanchangya Students Welfare Forum
Bawm Students Association
Bangladesh Mro Students Association
Bangladesh Khumi Students Association
Bangladesh Khyang Students Union
Bangladesh Garo Students Organization
Bangladesh Garo Students Federation
Bangladesh Hajong Students Organization
Bangladesh Mahato Indigenous Students Organization
Hajong Students Council
Bangladesh Garo Students Union
Khasi Students Union
Hill Women’s Federation
Parbatya Chattagram Pahari Chhatra Parishad
Bangladesh Indigenous Students Struggle Council
Bangladesh Indigenous Youth Forum
Bangladesh Indigenous Women’s Network
Dhaka University Jum Literature and Cultural Society
ARFI, Jahangirnagar
Dhaka University Jumma Students Family
Indigenous Students Union, Jagannath University
Indigenous Students Association
Association of Indigenous Students, SUST

The organizations argued that Bangladesh is not a country of only one ethnicity, language or culture. According to their joint statement, more than 50 Indigenous peoples and ethnic communities have long lived alongside the Bengali majority while maintaining their own languages, traditions, cultures and ways of life.

Who are the Indigenous Peoples of Bangladesh?

Bangladesh is home to a remarkably diverse Indigenous population. International Indigenous-rights sources, including IWGIA, say that more than 54 Indigenous Peoples live in Bangladesh and speak at least 35 languages.

The 2022 Population and Housing Census separately recorded 50 ethnic communities. However, earlier censuses and Indigenous organizations have identified several additional communities that are not separately listed in the 2022 census.

Across these sources, 62 community names appear: Bagdi, Banai, Barman, Bawm, Bedia, Bhil, Bhuimali, Bhumij, Baraik, Chak, Chakma, Dalu, Garo (Mandi), Ganju, Gorait, Gurkha, Hajong, Ho, Hodi, Kharia, Kharwar, Khumi, Khyang, Kora, Koch, Khasi, Kol, Konda, Lohar, Lushai, Mahato (Kurmi Mahato), Mal Paharia, Marma, Manipuri, Mro, Munda, Mahali, Malo (Ghasi Malo), Musahar, Oraon, Pankhua, Patra, Rajuar, Rakhine, Santal, Sabar, Tanchangya, Teli, Tripura, Turi, Assam, Buna, Harijan, Karmakar, Kshatriya Barman, Muriyar, Pahan, Paharia, Rai, Rajbongshi, Shing and Urua.

This does not necessarily mean that Bangladesh has exactly 62 distinct Indigenous Peoples. Some names may overlap, represent alternative names, or be classified differently by different sources.

That is why Indigenous organizations and international sources commonly describe Bangladesh as home to more than 54 Indigenous Peoples, rather than treating 54—or 62—as a universally agreed fixed number.

What Did the Indigenous Organizations Demand?

Their protest was not limited to demanding the withdrawal of the ministers’ remarks. They called for constitutional recognition as Indigenous Peoples, recognition of their rights to land, territories and natural resources, including the right to self-determination, protection and development of their cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Bangladesh abstained when the UN General Assembly adopted UNDRIP in 2007. At the August 11 roundtable, Salahuddin Ahmed also argued that UNDRIP and ILO Convention No. 169 were not applicable to Bangladesh.

There is, however, another relevant point in the international legal context: Bangladesh ratified ILO Convention No. 107 on Indigenous and Tribal Populations in 1972. Although the later ILO Convention No. 169 has not been ratified by Bangladesh, the existence of Convention No. 107 adds important context to claims that international Indigenous and tribal rights frameworks are simply irrelevant to the country.

Can the State Decide Someone Else’s Identity?

This controversy raises a much larger question than the use of a single word: Who has the right to determine the identity of a people?

Can a minister or government decide that a community cannot call itself Indigenous, or does that right belong first and foremost to the people themselves?

Citizenship and Indigenous identity are not competing concepts. A Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mro, Garo, Hajong, or other Indigenous person can be a citizen of Bangladesh while also retaining a distinct ethnic and Indigenous identity.

Calling everyone “Bangladeshi” answers the question of citizenship. It does not erase differences in ethnicity, language, history, culture or ancestral relationships with land. Equality does not require everyone to have the same identity.

That distinction lies at the heart of the current dispute.

“We Know Who We Are”

For decades, Indigenous peoples in Bangladesh have faced disputes over terminology and official recognition. Successive governments have preferred terms such as “small ethnic groups,” “ethnic minorities” or “tribal peoples,” while many of the communities themselves continue to identify as Adivasi or Indigenous Peoples.

The August 13 joint statement therefore carries a message much larger than a disagreement with two ministers. Twenty-five organizations representing Indigenous students, youth, women and cultural groups stood together to say that their identity cannot simply be defined away through official terminology.

A government may choose which terminology it uses in official documents, but refusing to use a name cannot erase the history, language, culture and collective identity of a people.

The question Bangladesh must eventually answer is simple: Should the state determine the identity of Indigenous peoples, or should Indigenous peoples have the right to define themselves?

The message from these 25 organizations is equally clear: Whatever the state chooses to call us, we know who we are. And the right to our identity belongs to us.