In present-day Bangladesh, Hindus became a minority only in mid-thirteenth century of the Gregorian Calendar.[
citation needed] In 1941 the Hindus formed about 28% of the population, which declined to 22.05% in 1951, as rich and upper caste Hindus migrated to India after
Partition of India in 1947. The wealthy Hindus who migrated lost their land and assets through the
East Bengal Evacuee Act and the poor and middle-class Hindus that were left behind became targets of discrimination through new laws. At the outbreak of the
1965 India-Pakistan war, the
Defense of Pakistan Ordinance and later the
Enemy (Custody and Registration) Order II, through which the Hindus were labelled as the "enemy" and their property expropriated by the state.
[3][4][5] Since then, it has dropped by about half. Through a combination of mass exodus and genocide in the
1971 Bangladesh atrocities by the
Pakistan Army during the
Bangladesh Liberation War, this represents a loss of around 20 million Bangladeshi Hindus and their direct heirs, and reflects one of the largest displacements of population based on ethnic or religious identity in recent history. 1974 census of Bangladesh showed that the population of Hindus had fallen to 13.5%. Even after independence, the Hindus were branded "Indian stooges" and untrustworthy citizens.
[3] A significant driver of Hindu emigration has been the Enemy Property Act, later renamed as the
Vested Property Act, through which the Bangladesh Government has been able to appropriate the property of around 40% of the existing Bangladeshi Hindu population (according to Dr Abul Barkat of
Dhaka University).