Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
Before going to analyze the topic on recent” India Bangladesh relationship, the probable message and results “- one may have the review on some relevant topics. The topics or points will be mentioned, underlined and discussed considering the issue as a dark and adverse area of relationship. Is India’s ex-tempo propaganda an exposure to expansionism and aggression towards Bangladesh? Will the comments of Indian media activists deteriorate the bilateral neighborly relationship? What will be the answers from Indian counterpart? Will the answers contain prudence or sense? However, the Indian recent media propaganda may lead to mutual disharmony and non-cooperation. The recent media activism and comments may aggravate situation. Bangladesh is not at all concerned as the comments do not refer to the Indian responsible government’s agency.
It is easy to see why India is concerned about the current situation in Bangladesh. New Delhi is concerned about the BNP and other Islamist parties winning the new elections, which will harm their geopolitical interests and influence. India’s support and shelter for Hasina could be used to garner popular anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh. Some political parties have previously used anti-India rhetoric as a political tool and have already started putting pressure on New Delhi by demanding that the former premier be extradited. BNP activists were harassed, tortured and murdered with impunity for years while India turned a blind eye and supported unfair elections by the Hasina regime. This uneasy relationship between the BNP and New Delhi has also built an environment of mistrust and resentment towards the latter by the former. These political realities may be headed toward severely disadvantaging India’s strategic interests and geopolitical realities concerning Bangladesh.
India needs to pursue equal partnership with Bangladesh But then there’s the troubled side of the triangle. Because New Delhi invested so heavily, and for so long, in Hasina and her party, it has limited links to those now in power and lacks the leverage to ensure its interests are properly addressed. Additionally, while Indian media have wildly exaggerated security risks in post-Hasina Bangladesh, there have been so called threats to and attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus that prompting them to stage protests demanding more security.
The Bangladesh-US ties have experienced a reset. Yunus’s arrival is a breath of fresh air for a relationship that became increasingly toxic due to US tensions with Hasina over rights and democracy. But the true reset arguably happened back in February, soon after Bangladesh’s election (which Washington characterized as not free or fair), when President Biden penned a letter to Hasina welcoming the “next chapter” in bilateral ties – with no reference to rights or democracy. Washington would subsequently identify as priorities a range of issues, including several being emphasized now, such as reforms. The administration apparently concluded it was time to give renewed attention to subjects – strategic cooperation, trade, defense – that had previously helped boost relations, before being eclipsed by tensions over rights and democracy. Yunus’s arrival will help consolidate that earlier reset.
The Bangladesh-India relations are not doomed yet. Though New Delhi will be cautious, it’s committed to continued engagement. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently met Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain in New York, and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma met BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. A formal BNP-Jamaat split, perhaps already underway, could provide openings for New Delhi to cultivate a new relationship with BNP. Ultimately, India may conclude that given its economic and security interests in Bangladesh, it simply can’t afford to lose Dhaka. Conducting delicate negotiations over border security, for example, is easier with a workable relationship with Dhaka.
There has to be a balance between the facet of national security and the fundamental right of citizens. The definition clause of concerned legislation should be revisited so those possible lacunas are dealt with. In addition, we tend to ignore the fact that facet like ‘national security’ is not delicate to the extent that it will be offended by mere social media activism. If any expression or social activity is within the ambit of law and made without any ulterior motive of inciting people to initiate violence against the government or against the public peace that could lead to public disorder, it should not have circumscribed with doubt. With these transitions a prospective paradigm shift can be envisaged.
India’s bordering evil eye may have an impact on its ties with Dhaka. India’s recent random media activism has offended Bangladesh. In particular, they are randomly discussing national integrity and sovereignty of a free state, as if Bangladeshi people’s independence is a mercy or a lovely gift from them. They want to play against Bangladesh just for the sake of demonstrating their strong feelings toward us. Their media publicly propagates the subject of Chottogram and Chottogram hill tracts, accusing us of inciting tensions over their seven sisters. In fact, they are dividing the soil by making obnoxious noises and propagating Hindu fundamentalism in the region. Indeed, these sentiments will worsen the peace in the region and damage Bangladesh and India’s good neighborly relations. Interfering with our domestic affairs could be detrimental to India. There could be a reactionary impact on their land, which could lead to India violating its neighbor’s peace. Last but not least, we wish to keep our two nations’ relations cordial rather than threatening. India’s expansionism and aggression could lead to their own issues so that there is no way to destroy or undermine the neighborly harmony.
(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar and VDP).
