Mahmudur Rahman
US policy in South Asia started to shift in favor of India in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Neocon theories of Huntington and Fukuyama became the cornerstone of the US foreign policy in the nineties. Washington establishment identified China and Islam as the new threats in their dream creation of a “New World Order” under the hegemony of the US as the single, unchallenged superpower.
President Clinton took the lead to recalibrate Indo-US bilateral relations in light of the geopolitical changes as the Cold War era ended. After the exit of occupying Soviet army from Afghanistan in a shameful defeat, successive administrations of Bush Sr. and Clinton decided to ditch Pakistan, the sole challenger to Indian hegemony in South Asia. The mysterious attack of 9/11 inside American soil further hardened the US policy towards Islamic world. President Bush Jr. declared war against so-called “Islamic terror” and India was embraced as the strategic ally in the region. Islamic Pakistan was neutralized with the threat to bomb them to Stone Age. Richard Armitage, then Deputy Secretary of State bluntly declared in 2002 that Pakistan was never important to the US in its own right, and was only worthy of consideration in relation to third parties.
According to 2002 US Security Strategy Paper, in regards to the US led international coalition’s war on Islamic terror, India’s importance was not only limited to South Asia, its’ robust participation was also needed in the Indian Ocean. In July 2005, President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a Joint Statement resolving to establish US-India “global partnership”. President Obama followed identical India appeasement policy in South Asia. Obama’s Deputy Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns declared, “As we Americans consider our future role in the world, the rise of a democratic and increasingly powerful India represents a singularly positive opportunity to advance our global interests”. As a result, India gleefully took the mantle of “Regional Bully” with full support from Washington.
As India started to flex its US-pumped muscle, the small states in the region found their sovereignty severely compromised. Among the small states in South Asia, Muslim majority Bangladesh is the worst affected. Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh led Congress government first encouraged a pro-Indian military coup in 2007 with full US support, and then aided Bangladesh military intelligence to manipulate 2008 election to bring back its crony Sheikh Hasina to power with logic defying, questionable landslide victory. Delhi then devised a long term grand strategy to prolong the fascist rule of Sheikh Hasina by aiding in the gradual dismantling of state institutions to eventually bury the electoral democracy in Bangladesh. Since then, India has steadfastly supported 2013 “single party” election, 2018 “midnight” election and 2024 “dummy” election to keep Hasina in power without any mandate from the people. Bangladesh has been transformed to an Orwellian state by brutal crackdown against dissident voices through extra judicial killings, enforced disappearance and imprisonment.
During the above period, India’s domestic political scenario was undergoing a radical transformation. The spectacular rise of Hindutva has not only changed the political landscape in India, it has also made the entire South Asia dangerously unstable. The philosophy of Hindutva is based on the narratives of Hindu jingoistic superiority over the whole of the Indian subcontinent. There is unmistakable sign that Modi’s India is gradually shifting towards a spell of authoritarianism inspired by Hindu extremism. Unfortunately, a very large segment of powerful Indian diaspora in the US and other Western countries has become engulfed by the Hindutva wave. They provide moral, political and financial support for the activities of RSS and BJP, including violence against minority Muslims in India. Various Hindutva organizations, influential diaspora members, and social media influencers are jointly working in cahoots with the government to expand Hindutva beyond India’s borders. Interestingly, Zionist lobbies in the West have embraced these Hindutva outfits as their natural allies to unitedly work against the interest of the Islamic world and spread Islamophobia.
In the US, organizations such as the US chapter of RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, World Hindu Council, and the Friends of India Society International (FISI) are lobbying inside the Washington establishment in support of Hindu fanatical politics. They are also developing ties with the powerful Zionist lobby to overcome the hurdle of relatively late entry of ultra nationalist Indian diaspora in the business of manipulating American politics. Following the success of AIPAC, the Indian diaspora has founded the United States India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) to influence Senate and Congress and also to enable the entry of Indian Americans in the US political process. The Indian government has deployed an arsenal of lobbying tactics including hiring of lobbying firm, various charm initiatives, misinformation campaign, and subtle blackmails. Lately, Indian intelligence agencies are also hiring diaspora members in the killings of Sikh and Kashmiri dissident voices residing in Canada, US and other western countries.
Since 1947, India has practiced coercive and hegemonic foreign policy in South Asia as its regional balancing strategy. With the rise of extreme-right Hindu nationalism in India, the overall security situation has further worsened in the region. The US initiative to subcontract the regional policing role to India as part of President Bush’s larger geopolitical strategy to contain both Islam and China, has further emboldened New Delhi. Until President Biden entered White House, India enjoyed enthusiastic US support for nearly three decades, in its attempt to impose hegemonic control in her neighborhood. According to some US political analysts, Biden administration desired to show Bangladesh as a test case for democratic governance and human rights by forcing Sheikh Hasina, a Indian stooge, to change course and allow a free, fair and inclusive election. After all, the declared foreign policy priority of President Biden was to promote and buttress democracy at home and abroad. Ambassador Peter Hass in Bangladesh initially took Biden’s policy with apparent sincerity. After India sponsored January 7 election drama, he cut a pitiful, sorry figure.
In the case of Bangladesh, Narendra Modi has succeeded to upstage Joe Biden with the help of Indo-Zionist lobby in Washington by managing another farcical election in Bangladesh. Many academics and political analysts believe that the pro-Indian lobby in the US state department and deep state prevailed over the democratic group within the administration and stopped the US government from putting meaningful pressure on New Delhi and Dhaka. Furthermore, Biden administration, at present, globally isolated because of its inhuman abetment of ongoing Zionist genocide of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, has completely lost its moral authority to promote human rights and democracy anywhere in the world. In the meanwhile, Putin, the autocratic ruler of Russia and a friend of India, took full advantage of America’s isolation by ruthlessly murdering his imprisoned critic, Alexei Navalny.
Under the circumstances, the opposition political parties and the people of Bangladesh need to rely on Almighty Allah and their own strength to organize a meaningful movement to obtain freedom from Hasina’s fascism and Indian aggression. We should stop looking at US for helping the democratic struggle in Bangladesh. As its neocolonial strategy, America never wants democracy in the Muslim world. Brutal autocrats like Hasina, SiSi and Sheikhs and Kings are the natural allies of Islamophobic west. Muslims in Bangladesh should be encouraged by the enormous sacrifice and resilience, courage and the strength of religious faith (Iman) of the people of Palestine. Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer and six-year-old child, Hind Rajab, brutally killed by cowardly Zionist army should be our icon for fight against aggression, cruelty and injustice.
