M Serajul Islam | Aug 25,2023
THE Anandbazar Patrika report that created a sensation in Bangladesh has since been trashed after it was exposed as the outcome of a nexus between the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi and the newspaper. Mainstream media in India have, nevertheless, worked hand-in-glove in pursuing New Delhi’s bilateral interests in Bangladesh since Bangladesh became independent in 1971.
New Delhi has pursued an all-the-eggs-in-the-AL basket policy in conducting bilateral relations with Bangladesh that paid off India’s national interests handsomely. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on her official visit to New Delhi in 2019, said that she had given India since coming to power in 2009 more than what India expected.
The policy, illogical as it was, worked well for New Delhi till the Biden administration came to power in January 2021 and made democracy and human rights the bedrock of his administration’s foreign policy. Washington did not take long to bring the Awami League’s 14-year rule under the radar of its foreign policy. The result was ominous for the AL regime because Washington identified it as a net violator of human rights and democracy and began taking measures against it.
The United States zeroed in on Bangladesh’s next general election and brought on board its western allies and the United Nations in their joint demand for the holding of Bangladesh’s next general election in a free, fair and peaceful manner. The US interests and pressure have exposed that the AL regime violated human rights massively, held two controversial elections to remain in power and was preparing another such election to extend its stranglehold on power for another term.
The US efforts to expose the AL regime’s violations of democratic, human and electoral rights have been assisted by the introduction of WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, et cetera have, in the meantime, brought these violations to all and sundry in their homes without the need for explanation or analysis. Meanwhile, India which remained distanced from the United States following the departure of president Donald Trump came close to the Biden administration, culminating in the Biden-Modi summit in Washington on June 22. In Paragraph 35 of the Joint Declaration of the Summit, the two leaders ‘reaffirmed and embraced their shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens.’
These developments had an immediate impact on New Delhi’s all-eggs-in-the-AL basket policy regarding Bangladesh. The Awami Lelague’s predicament has been on the downslide politically and economically since the Biden administration came to power and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The AL predicament has never been worse and it needed New Delhi desperately to show its all-eggs-in-one-basket policy the most.
Yet, New Delhi showed no explicit support for the AL regime. Narendra Modi had the opportunity to request Washington not to hit the AL regime as hard as it hitting. He did not even raise a word for either the AL regime or Sheikh Hasina. Meanwhile, India’s foreign minister stated that India has now the ability not just to deal with the governments but with the political parties of the region. As late as August 2, the spokesman at India’s ministry of external affairs stated that India wanted the people of Bangladesh to decide their fate.
The trashing of the Anandabazar report in which reportedly the external affairs ministry of India had a role suggested that New Delhi wanted the Indian mainstream media to gradually move out from the all-eggs-in-the-AL basket policy. Since the AL regime came under the US radar and violations of human and political rights of the people of Bangladesh under the AL regime became palpably obvious for reasons stated earlier, the mainstream Indian newspapers have carried news and analysis on Bangladesh critical of the AL regime. After all, it was no longer easy to hide the truth these days.
Nevertheless, old habits, as they say, die hard. Some of these mainstream Indian newspapers are still trying their best to help the Awami League now facing its worst political crisis ever. The AL regime is not only up against the US-led west like no other regime in this region except Myanmar and North Korea. It is also facing a political movement from the BNP-led opposition like no regime since the country’s liberation war.
Two recent reports, one carried by the Telegraph on August 21 and another by the Hindu on August 20, backed the AL regime as New Delhi’s best bet in Bangladesh which is, no doubt, correct. Nevertheless, because of the new realities on the ground that they cannot wish away such as the AL regime’s human rights record, for instance, they are playing other cards to encourage New Delhi to stand behind the AL regime as always in the past and convince the United States to do the same.
These cards are Islam and China. The Telegraph stated that it is in the interests of both New Delhi and Washington that the Awami League, its present record on human rights notwithstanding, must remain in power to stop Jamaat and the Islamists in Bangladesh. It is a pity that this report from an otherwise credible newspaper overlooked that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat have severed their alliance and that it is the Awami League that is playing politics with Jamaat and other Islamic forces.
The Telegraph report has overlooked what is now palpably evident because of technology that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is now leading the biggest anti-regime movement in Bangladesh’s history for democratic, human and electoral rights of the people peacefully. The AL regime with state power is using blatant violence to suppress the movement of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is, indeed, a travesty of truth, therefore, for a credible newspaper in India such as the Telegraph to blame the opposition and back the Awami League that has self-incriminated itself on human rights issues. The Islam card is also a stale one that the US-west will not buy any more.
The China card with which these newspapers are trying to bring New Delhi and Washington together will, however, appeal to both. It is, nevertheless, ironic that these papers are raising the China card to attract Washington’s attention because it is New Delhi that pushed the AL regime the China way. Leading to Bangladesh’s 2019 election when the AL regime was on its knees for India’s support, New Delhi asked the Awami League to fend for itself because of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hindutva mantra that viewed Bangladesh as a Muslim-majority country whose people were ‘termites’, millions of whom illegally migrated to India and would be gathered and thrown into the Bay of Bengal.
The Telegraph report stated that Washington and New Delhi agreed to a free and fair election under the constitution. This would be news to ambassador Peter Haas because this would allow the Awami League to hold another controversial election under the 15th amendment and a fourth consecutive term that would push Bangladesh over the edge. The United States is certainly not working towards such an objective. Newspapers such as the Telegraph must come out of their all-eggs-in-the-AL basket mindset and examine the 15th amendment to help Bangladesh avoid a catastrophe.
New Delhi is aware that it cannot back the Awami League the way some of the mainstream Indian newspapers are recommending. New Delhi cannot dillydally much longer either. China which was following New Delhi’s indecisiveness has moved away from the Awami League and cast its lot with the people of Bangladesh. Thus, in a National Mourning Day event in Dhaka, the Indian high commissioner spoke on the glorious history of India-Bangladesh nations, about Bangabandhu and about people-to-people relationship, but not a word of the AL regime’s desire to hold the next general election under its partisan administration. Perhaps, New Delhi, too, is moving away from the Awami League and towards the people of Bangladesh.
Postscript: It is time for New Delhi and its mainstream media to move away for the sake of mutually beneficial and logical Bangladesh-India relations from their all-eggs-in-the-AL basket mindset.
The article was originally published in the New Age, Bangladesh.
