“A 5-day long Sharadiya Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bangladesh Hindu Community ended peacefully through the immersion of deities at different water bodies, on 2024 Oct 13..It was celebrated at 31,461 mandaps across the country, including 252 in the capital according to Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad. Another report mentioned 32466 puja pandals. (Photo is of Gaibandha district, by Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, BSS.).
The government distributed rice to the puja mandaps (in one district, Gaibandha, it was 319.5 tonnes), and ensured uninterrupted power supply to help celebrations..See an idol being carried for immersion. Pandals are illuminated and decorated gorgeously, as in Kolkata, or during Mumbai’s Ganesh festival. Dr Yunus visited the the nationally renowned Dhakeswari temple. 3-tier security arrangements were made by the interim govt., and enabled lakhs of Hindus to participate in peaceful celebrations. Muslims are opposed to idolatry, but Bangladesh is different; it is Bengali nationality, rather than Islam, that is dominant..
(for details of the festival, see https://www.bssnews.net/district/216081)
This report exposes the deliberate and hostile misinformation about the interim govt: that Yunus govt is anti-Hindu, anti-India, and “controlled by Muslim fundamentalists”.. In fact, a false narrative is promoted questioning the very legitimacy of the interim govt. A fugitive Hasina, who supposedly arrived in Delhi for a temporary shelter, is allowed to not only stay on for almost five months, but indulge in hostile attacks on Yunus regime. In her (virtual) speeches made for those in New York and London, she named Dr Yunus as “the architect behind the genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh”, a theme pursued earlier also by Trump in his election campaigns. India creates a diplomatic stalemate on Bangladesh’s request – based on a bilateral treaty signed during Hasina regime – seeking her repatriation for a trial in Bangladesh, on charges including genocide, corruption etc. Delhi demands immediate release of a Hindu Chinmoy Swami (of Iscon), arrested on charges of sedition, inciting mass violence etc. India is obviously displeased with the way Bangladesh is handling the exploitative Adani deals with a corrupt Hasina regime, which is a key factor in India’s attitude towards the Yunus regime. India allows Hasina to violate all diplomatic norms: In a letter she wrote to greet President-elect Trump, she was still shown as the “Prime Minister.” What does it imply? Towards the end, we discuss how Hasina regime was not free from communal violence, a fact covered up by India to damn the Yunus regime, and which needs to be told to put things in perspective.
In his Dec 9 visit to Bangladesh, made after a four month long stalemate, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri raised “concerns on safety of Hindus” and many other issues, presumably including the Adani interests in Bangladesh. Business Standard (Dec7 ) indicated that in its curtain-raiser report. Modi-led India, “which lobbied for the Adani deal”, as per Hasina’s son, is out to coerce Bangladesh, playing dirty politics, and based on misinformation. And misinformation has been an instrument of India’s foreign policy, particularly against Pakistan, China, and now extended to Bangladesh, we have pointed out in an earlier article in this series.
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Sheik Hasina’s extradition turned into a diplomatic row, despite a treaty
Bangladesh foreign ministry on December 23, sent a formal Note Verbale to the Indian government, seeking the repatriation of Hasina for judicial proceedings, under a bilateral extradition treaty, signed in 2013 when Hasina was in power. It was later amended in 2016, providing a legal framework for such requests. There have been informal requests by Bangladesh for quite some time. Reports appeared that India is in no mood to respond, and hence the formal note now.
What were the charges against Hasina and others?
On November 26, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued arrest warrants against Hasina and 45 others in connection with alleged crimes against humanity committed during the July-August protests against the Awami League government. According to a report by Dhaka Tribune, Hasina is accused in over 100 cases and faces a number of charges, including murder, mass killing and crimes against humanity over killings during the July uprising that led to her fleeing on August 5…and others had been implicated in multiple criminal cases in Bangladesh, including corruption, murders, abductions, crimes against humanity, and genocide. (First Post, December 25, 2024).
A prompt response came from Brahma Chellaney, which is a typical voice of Indian hawks, who seek to damn the interim regime, with false stories about its “Islamism :
India “is still examining the legal basis for seeking extradition under the bilateral extradition treaty, which specifically excludes political cases. In international law, can an unconstitutionally installed regime seek the extradition of an elected PM deposed by the military.. The note verbale is part of the Islamist-backed regime’s efforts to deflect attention from mounting problems in Bangladesh.. Despite presiding over rampant human-rights abuses, the regime is getting a free ride from the Western media, largely because the Biden administration blessed the regime change in Bangladesh and is lending full support to the undemocratic forces now in power. (on X, Dec 25, 2024).
The Monsoon Revolution led by students in fact had no role for military, even in the interim govt. Hasina was by no means democratic, nor was she elected properly:
“In their efforts to stay in power, the Sheikh Hasina dictatorship destroyed every institution of the country. Judiciary was broken. Democratic rights were suppressed through a brutal decade-and-a-half long crackdown. Elections were rigged blatantly. Generations of young people grew up without exercising their voting rights. Banks were robbed with full political patronisation. And the state coffer was plundered by abusing power.”
The above was stated by a representative of the interim regime, and quoted by an Indian editor, who wrote with horrible presumptions:
Hasina “will, by no means, receive a fair trial in Bangladesh and perhaps even be lynched, given the intense hostility of the current rulers of Bangladesh ..” (28 December 2024, dailypioneer.com, Hiranmay Karlekar). The editor- writer then pointed out clauses in the treaty that permit India to deny extradition request.
Hours after her arrival on Aug 5, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar had said that Hasina had arrived on very short notice, and for a stay in India “for the moment”. Back then, it was speculated that she might leave for Norway, Finland, or the United Kingdom shortly, but Hasina and her entourage continued to stay in India. It is almost five months, and Hasina, sheletered by India, is indulging in hostile political activity against the current regime of Bangladesh.
“Communal violence in India has an impact on Bangladesh” : Sheik Hasina
Sambhal in UP has been caught up in communal violence, for several weeks now, an old Mughal-era Masjid being drawn into a controversy. It is only one latest episode of suppression of minorities in India, in varied forms. Such incidents will only provoke Muslims in Bangladesh, and create problems for the interim govt. A Christian delegation from Manipur met Modi and complained that over 360 churches were attacked in that State. It is better India tackle its own policy of suppressing minorities.
Peace and security, particularly for Hindus in Bangladesh are linked to anti-Muslim communalism in India. Sheik Hasina, then PM, had hinted that communal violence in India was having an impact on Bangladesh. “India did help us in the liberation war (of 1971) and we will remain ever grateful for the support… But they (India) have to be aware that such incidents should not take place there which would have an impact on Bangladesh, and the Hindus in our country will suffer,” she said, virtually speaking to the Hindu community at a temple in Dhaka during puja days in 2021. (theprint.in, 21 October, 2021).
Communal violence targeting Muslims is increasingly brazen in India; Sambhal masjid row in UP is just an excuse for BJP to spread hatred. BJP, now the leading representative of Big Business, wants to capture Bengal in elections,16 months away, and consolidate itself in Northeast. These are among factors behind the intensified communal politics in the East, in Bengal and Bangladesh.They are likely to last until (West) Bengal elections are over.
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Indian Big Business groups have increasing stakes in Bangladesh, but that should not lead to hegemonism by Delhi
Indian Big Business groups have increasing stakes in Bangladesh, and were facilitated by Sheik Hasina regime that went out of the way for the same. Photo (courtesy bdnews24.com) is of Bangladesh Investment and Policy Summit, in Jan 2016.
It is not just coincidental that a diplomatic stalemate is created at a time the Adani controversy is out in the open, also in Bangladesh. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, during his Dec 9 visit, presumably raised it, but enquiries, judicial and otherwise, are going on in Bangladesh in relation to Adani deals. India’s Big Business groups, like Adanis, Ambanis and Tatas in particular, are expanding into Northeast, and into Bangladesh and so do Hindutva politics.
Indian business tycoons Gautam Adani and Anil Ambani had proposed investments totalling $11 billion in different sectors of Bangladesh.The Indian High Commission said they made various proposals; and that the Chief Minister of Meghalaya Mukul Sangma also joined the summit along with the strong Indian business delegation. Sangma also invited investments and collaborations with Bangladesh in regional connectivity through Meghalaya into North Bengal, Bhutan and Nepal. He also invited investments in hydroelectricity, sustainable agriculture including innovative use of bamboo, agar, spices and other cash crops, and tourism.
Tata Motors is a market leader in Bangladesh for decades, with a 70 percent market share in Buses, including Assembly facilities. In 2021, Tatas newly entered the car market too.
Adanis are engaged in Bangladesh too, and the new Yunus regime is out to review, re-open, a power project signed by Hasina regime. The stakes are high for both sides: “In value terms, India’s power exports to Bangladesh had crossed $1 billion, almost 10 per cent of India’s total exports to its neighbour.” (indianexpress.com, November 25, 2024).
Gautam Adani, Chairman and Founder of the Adani Group of Companies, focused on power, ports and other infrastructure areas for his $8 billion investments. He showed interest in setting up a 1600 MW power plant in Bangladesh and another 1600 MW power plant in India for exclusive power supply to Bangladesh. Now these projects are caught up in controversies, including corruption charges. Adani also spoke of using the Dhamra deep sea port in Orissa for bilateral trade with Bangladesh, including under the Coastal Shipping Agreement.
Anil Ambani’s $3 billion investment proposal was made by his Reliance Group’s Vice President Samir Gupta in his absence. The Group proposed to invest in setting up the largest integrated LNG-based combined cycle power plant in Bangladesh with a total capacity of 3000 MW, along with LNG pre-gasification facilities.
Sangma also invited investments and collaborations with Bangladesh in regional connectivity through Meghalaya into North Bengal, Bhutan and Nepal. He also invited investments in hydroelectricity, sustainable agriculture including innovative use of bamboo, agar, spices and other cash crops, and tourism, Bangladesh media reported.
(bdnews24.com, 26 Jan 2016)
Bangladesh people resent India’s hegemony, facilitated by a subservient Hasina regime. Liberation was not meant for that. In fact, that was a major factor behind the Monsoon Revolution, though precipitated by internal policies.
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“Adani, under bribery scrutiny, pressed by Bangladesh to reopen power deal”
That is the title of a report, of Dec 20, 2024, published by Economic Times, based on Reuters:
“ Dhaka has said it hopes to renegotiate the deal, which was awarded by then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina without a tender process and costs Bangladesh far more than its other coal power deals, according to Bangladesh power agency documents and letters between the two parties reviewed by Reuters, as well as interviews with six Bangladesh officials.
“ Dhaka seeks to renegotiate the 2017 deal, citing higher costs and lack of competitive bidding. The dispute escalates as Bangladesh falls behind on payments, and Adani Power halves electricity supply,” reported Reuters.
Hasina’s son and adviser Sajeeb Wazed told Reuters he was not aware of the Adani Power deal but that he was “sure there was no corruption.” “I can only assume the Indian government lobbied for this deal so it was made,” he said in response to allegations of political interference. Modi’s office and other Indian officials did not respond to requests for comment. (Economic Times, Dec 20, 2024).
The company said the Bangladesh deal helped further Indian foreign policy objectives ..Srilanka had its own complaint against Adani, with similar allegations, and witnessed political turmoil, it may be recalled.
Now we shall see some details of the Report:
“ Bangladesh’s interim government has accused energy supplier Adani Power of breaching a multi-billion-dollar agreement by withholding tax benefits that a power plant central to the deal received from New Delhi, according to documents seen by Reuters. In 2017, the Indian company controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani signed an agreement with Bangladesh to provide power from its coal-fired plant in eastern India…
.. Bangladesh’s de facto power minister Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan told Reuters the country now had enough domestic capacity to cope without the Adani supply, though not all domestic power generators were operational. . The news agency is also revealing details about Bangladesh’s plan to reopen the 25-year deal, and that it hopes to use the fallout from U.S. prosecutors’ November indictment of Adani and seven other executives for their alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme to press for a resolution. Adani Group has called the U.S. allegations “baseless.”
Adani Power’s Godda plant runs off imported coal and was built to serve Bangladesh.
The power supplier was required… to pass on the “benefit of a tax exemption” from India’s government, according to the contract and implementation agreement signed on Nov. 5, 2017 between Adani Power and the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) “But Adani Power did not pass on the benefit.” ..The Godda plant supplied 8.16 billion units in the year to June 30, 2024.., suggesting potential savings of about $28.6 million. Power minister Khan said the savings would be a key part of future discussions with Adani Power.
Bangladesh in November scrapped a 2010 law that allowed Hasina to award some energy deals without a competitive bidding process..An enquiry is on. Another panel asked to study the economy said in a white paper submitted to Yunus on Dec. 1 that the U.S. charges against Adani meant Bangladesh should “scrutinise” the power deal, which it described as “negotiated hastily.” The US charges became a controversy in India. So also in Bangladesh.
On Oct. 31, Adani Power halved the power supply from Godda in response to the payment dispute with Bangladesh. That angered Bangladesh, BPDB Chair Md. Rezaul Karim said, because it came after Dhaka in October remitted $97 million to Adani Power – its highest monthly payment this year…
Adani Power contends it is owed $900 million, while BPDB says arrears are about $650 million. Bangladesh suffers from a dollar shortage and BPBD officials told Reuters they haven’t been able to obtain sufficient foreign currency for payment.
The unit cost of energy from Godda was 55% above the average of all Indian power sold to Dhaka, according to the summary of Bangladesh’s power purchases.
(published by Economic Times, on Dec 19, 2024 )
Modi-led India is unhappy with Yunus regime, driven by these Big Business interests, not merely the alleged Islamic Fundamentalism, which is only a cover. After all, India has good relations with Islamist Saudis, and other pro-US countries.
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Reviews ordered, Courts intervened, on several Adani deals
The Adani deals pushed by Modi and Hasina regimes have been the centre of controversies since long. They have come up again after the student revolt, which also had a dimension of protest against Indian hegemony. The interim govt was bound to review them. Delhi should not indulge in arm-twisting to help its friends.
The Bangladesh government, in a statement, had earlier said, “The National Review Committee on the ministry of power, energy, and mineral resources on Nov 24 Sunday asked the Interim Government to hire a reputed legal and investigative firm to assist its review of major power generation contracts signed during Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic rule between 2009 and 2024.”
“The committee is currently engaged in the detailed investigation of several contracts. They include Adani (Godda) BIFPCL 1234.4 megawatt coal fired power plant,” it said, adding to the list power plants in Payra (1320 MW coal), Meghnaghat (335 MW dual fuel), Ashuganj (195 MW gas), Bashkhali (612 MW Coal), Meghnaghat (583 MW dual fuel) and Meghnaghat (584 MW gas/RLNG).”
“In an extraordinary resolution, the committee led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said it needed more time to do further analysis of other solicited and unsolicited contracts. The committee is collecting evidence that may lead to potential renegotiation or cancellation of contracts in line with the international arbitration laws and proceeding..,”..This was in line with the direction of the Bangladesh high court of November 19… a two-judge bench, comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury, asked the government to submit the committee’s report within two months, Bangladesh’s news agency UNB had reported. Additionally, the HC had ordered the government to submit all documents related to the 25-year deal between the power division and Adani Group in a month’s time.
The Indian Express had reported on September 12 that the Yunus-led interim government was set to scrutinise Indian businesses including the Adani Group which exports power from its Jharkhand unit under a 2017 agreement.
More specifically, the interim government is keen to know the terms of the agreement and if the price being paid for power is justified.
In November 2017, Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd (APJL) signed a 25-year 1,496 MW (net) Power Purchase Agreement with the Bangladesh Power Development Board. Under this, Bangladesh would buy 100 per cent electricity produced by AJPL’s Godda plant. The unit, which runs on 100 per cent imported coal, was declared a Special Economic Zone by the Indian government in March 2019.
The Godda plant, fully commercially operational during April-June 2023…exported about 7,508 million units of power, or almost 63 per cent of India’s total power exports of 11,934 million units to Bangladesh. In value terms, India’s power exports to Bangladesh had crossed $1 billion, almost 10 per cent of India’s total exports to its neighbour.
(In the case of Sri Lanka, the new government led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake is yet to take a final decision regarding the Adani Green Energy Ltd. (AGEL) wind power project in Mannar and Pooneryn, among other ongoing investments in the country.)
(indianexpress.com , November 25, 2024)
India apparently is arm-twisting Bangladesh to satisfy the demands of Adanis.
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Hasina regime was by no means secular, nor safe for Hindus: “3,600 attacks since 2013”
“Hindus protested over the weekend,says report dated Oct 19th 2021, demanding justice for their attacked community members.Violence against Hindus and protests during Hasina regime were well recorded. Iscon was has been playing a political role, ostensibly to protect Hindus, as can be seen in the photo. It is of 2021 Puja days. (Image: Syed Mahamudur Rahman/NurPhoto/picture alliance).
Hasina regime basically was no different, and the tirade against the interim regime is motivated. Amid the shrill campaign against the Yunus regime, Sangh parivar itself acknowledged that Hasina regime had its own bad history.
Abhijit Majumder, Prominent Journalist and Author revealed “a disturbing trend of about 450 (anti-Hindu) attacks per year over the past eight years.” He urged to avoid over-reliance on Sheikh Hasina and called for “alternative approaches.”
“Hindu organisations need to mobilise street power by rallying people and funds. Simultaneously, treat Bangladesh as an Islamic country and try to open channels with all stakeholders..but not solely relying on the façade of peace..”
(RSS-linked weekly magazine, Organizer, webdesk, Sep 4, 2024)
Hasina was by no means a secular angel. Her regime was by no means secular, nor safe for Hindus: “3,600 attacks since 2013 — violence against Hindu minority not a first for Bangladesh” . That is how theprint.in (21 October, 2021) had reported about attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority community during Durga Puja celebrations in October 2021. At least six people died and several were injured then. It is not as if Hasina regime was free from such incidents.
We have seen in the beginning of this report how Durga puja went off peacefully under the present regime. Contrast it with Hasina regime. Reports are suppressed in Bangladesh as also in India. But they appear abroad, as the one below shows. The report during the same puja days, by dw.com: of October 19, 2021, says:
“ Last week, several Hindu temples were ransacked during violent protests across Bangladesh that were sparked by video of a Quran being placed at the feet of a Hindu statue during celebrations for the Hindu festival Durga Puja.
“ The Quran video provoked outrage in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, and hundreds of Muslims protested violently in more than a dozen districts. Houses belonging to Hindus were also attacked, and six people were killed, including two Hindus…Evidently, Muslims were killed in greater numbers, and Iscon was active at that time too.
“On Monday, followers of the Hindu advocacy group, ISCON( International Society for Krishna Consciousness), were joined by students and teachers from Dhaka University in blocking a major intersection in the Bangladeshi capital to demand justice…”
The Daily Star, had reported that a total of “101 religious sites including Hindu temples, puja mandaps and 181 shops/homes were attacked in six days since the Cumilla incident”.
Politics of communalism, exploited by election parties, igniting hatred and riots have been quite common in Bangladesh, and not exclusive to India.
Not only Islamists, but Hindutva groups, including Iscon, have been quite active in dirty politics there. Misinformation has been an instrument of India’s foreign policy, particularly against Pakistan, China, and now extended to Bangladesh.
Hindutva is sought to be injected into foreign policy, and we see that in relation to Bangladesh, where Indian Big Business has big stakes. On the other hand,Bangladesh polity as such is more tolerant than India under Hindutva regime, irrespective of who is at the helm, as we see below.
Nayanima Basu, ‘Diplomacy Editor’ of theprint.in, (2021 OCT 25 ) had reported:
“Several puja pavilions were vandalised, villages torched, and temples desecrated by religious fundamentalists…So far, 71 cases have been filed in connection with the rioting incidents and the prime suspect has been arrested…New Delhi knows that this is not the first time such episodes have taken place, sources said.”
Unlike now, “Modi regime then believed that it was a matter “internal” to Bangladesh, and related to their “own citizens”, and the Hasina government is “strong enough” to prevent these incidents. And “Bangladesh needs to take stringent action against religious fundamentalist groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir,” Delhi felt.
Rights groups say these attacks often are forgotten by the legal system and go unpunished.” (Arafatul Islam, dw.com, October 19, 2021.)
Indian media and Delhi forget all that past, and pretend as if the Yunus regime is the villain.
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“No Need” to change Bangladesh Constitution, Hasina’s Awami League asserted
Given the canard that the interim regime took a turn into Islamic Fundamentalism, some background is useful, also to show that Hasina was by no means keen on secularism:
During (the 2021) “protests against the violence, calls for a constitution that honours secularism were made in 2021 within Bangladeshin in op-ed pieces. When Bangladesh’s State Minister of Information Murad Hassan reportedly referred to plans to restore the 1972 (“secular”) Constitution under Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the ruling Awami League was quick to dismiss Hassan’s remarks. Last week, a party leader said there is no need to change the constitution at this moment.”
In the 1970s, “secularism” was removed from the Bangladesh Constitution by the fifth amendment, and in the late 1980s, Islam was declared the state religion. Notably, during Indira’s Emergency in 1976, “secularism” and “socialism” were added by her by 42nd constitutional amendment…Islam was made state religion of Bangladesh in 1988, when the country was ruled by Hussein Muhammad Ershad. (theprint.in, 25 October, 2021)
Even so, experts say there is still ambiguity on religious freedom in the country. “The lack of a clear position on where Bangladesh stands vis-à-vis state and religion has helped breed fundamentalism, extremism, and anti-West sentiments in that country,” Shafi Md Mostofa, an assistant professor of World Religions and Culture at Dhaka University’s Faculty of Arts, argues in a September 2020 piece in The Diplomat.
Thus Islam like elsewhere, has anti-Western connotation rather than anti-Hindu thrust. Hindutva lobbies cover up this fact, and follow imperialists, in branding Muslims as Fundamentalists.
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“Bangladesh can teach India how to handle hate crimes”
Modi-led India and sangh parivar claim Hindutva is tolerant, and Islam is inherently otherwise. But facts are otherwise going a (comparative) report byDilip Mandal, a former managing editor of India Today Hindi, and wrote books on media and sociology. The polity in Bangladesh, including the media, was far better than that in Modi-led India, a self-certified Vishwa Guru, as the article by Mandal ( Oct 22, 2021) shows:
“Bangladesh is, of course, not free from bigotry and communalism. The communal forces are quite active there. But there is almost a national consensus that at this juncture, the nation cannot afford communal strife….When violence broke out against Hindus during Durga Puja in Bangladesh, PM Sheikh Hasina, ruling party, media and opposition spoke in one voice to condemn it…The opposition to the communal violence was so united that it is not easy to find even fringe voices supporting anti-Hindu violence. The Bangladeshi public sphere spoke in one voice. ..The way Bangladesh responded to the religious violence against Hindu minorities has set a template for all liberal democracies of the world. It did not go for a split-screen debate of both-siderism. The condemnation was unequivocal and universal.”
“Politics of communalism” were being played by various forces, as in India: “Even during a calamity like Covid-19, a section of opinion-makers and mediapersons (in India) tried to communalise the pandemic and blamed a Tablighi Jamaat congregation, and that too at a time when many larger events took place in India. In all these and many more such events, India never spoke in one voice. The worst thing is that even the ruling dispensation, the party in power and its infrastructure didn’t abstain from fanning communal hatred.”
Mandal continues:
Unlike ruling party BJP in India, the Awami League came out in support of communal harmony and coined a slogan that has become quite popular now — “Each unto his or her religion, festivals are for all.” (Unlike BJP parivar) Awami League said that party members will build resistance against communal forces..Even civil society played its role in the peace initiative of the government. Peace marches and communal harmony meetings were organised across the nation in which thousands of Muslims participated. Such rallies were also organised in the universities and colleges. Journalists, film actors, cricketers, artists have also taken a stand against communal violence. “In fact, no notable person or group in Bangladesh has come out to support or justify the violent incidents.”
“Awami League and principal opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), are blaming each other and ascribing motives. However, like the Awami League, the BNP has also condemned the communal violence. Its leader Mirza Abbas said that there must be a strong resistance against the communal violence because this can dent the global image of Bangladesh. He added that, “If we can’t resist it, our independence and sovereignty will be at stake.”
Mandal contrasted it with India:
“Indian society, however, has become so fragmented and disjointed at this juncture that when it comes to communal violence or controversy, such seamlessly united acts of all political and social forces is hard to achieve. In recent years, we have seen how the political class — the opposition and the government — and the civil society spoke and reacted differently and contradictorily on the matter of Article 370, CAA-NRC, mob lynching, Ram Mandir,‘Love Jihad’, cow politics, violence against minorities and so on.”
(theprint.in 22 October, 2021 )
Contrary to scary reports about the present regime, there has been an exodus of Bangladeshi Hindus, even during Hasina regime.
Research by an economist and professor at Dhaka University, Abul Barkat, concluded that Bangladesh witnesses a daily exodus of 750 Hindus, most of whom try to get into India in the hopes of a more secure future and better economic conditions.
The persecution of minorities in Bangladesh — apart from Pakistan and Afghanistan —was sought to be countered, it was claimed, and that led to CAA, being stated as an objective of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, brought in by the Modi government in December 2019. The law seeks to make the road to citizenship easier for six minority communities from the three nations. However, that is more for polarization in India, with an eye of Hindu vote banks. Few in Assam benefited. Entire Bangladesh border of over 4000 km, larger than India’s LAC with China, is fenced off, secured. Visa regulations are tightened in recent past…People including Hindus in border villages are facing lot of trouble from Border security forces.
(For more, visit..
https://theprint.in/opinion/govt-media-opposition-bangladesh-can-teach-india-how-to-handle-hate-crimes/754719/ ************————-
Misinformation and Hindutva in foreign policy are undermining India’s friendly ties with Bangladesh. India has a 4000 km-long, sensitive border with Bangladesh in a Northeast region, already riven with violent ethnic conflicts. Delhi must shun hegemonism, stop interference in their internal affairs. It is in the interest of India, its people and regional peace. People should not be carried away by misinformation.
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Ramakrishnan is a political observer who regularly contributed to countercurrents.org.
See series of articles on Bangladesh by this author, including…
Bangladesh: Exporting politics of Hindutva and itching for gross interference (01/11/2024)
Bangladesh: Hindutva becomes more ominous, and fuels Trump campaign too
( 03/11/2024)
India’s Bangladesh policy: Gross interference, regional hegemonism, with an ominous backing of America
India Vs The Interim Govenment In Bangladesh,02/12/2024
Bangladesh says, ‘ We are probing if there is any conspiracy both at home and abroad to destabilize the interim government’, even as India indulges in brazen intervention in the internal affairs of Bangladesh.
https://countercurrents.org/2024/12/india-and-the-interim-govenment-in-bangladesh/
Bangladesh: Student leaders on Role of Religion in politics,15/09/2024.
https://countercurrents.org/2024/09/bangladesh-student-leaders-on-role-of-religion-in-politics/
