From the Twitter feed of Zulkernein Saer 26 November 2023
Earlier this evening, Mr GM Quader and Mr Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the chairman and general secretary of Jatiya Party respectively, called into the Baridhara residence of Mr Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, who holds the post of ‘Minister (Consular)’ in the
So who is Mr Agnihotri? Well, he was previously posted as the commercial counsellor at the
. In November 2016, the
identified Mr Agnihotri as RAW’s (Research and Analysis Wing the foreign intelligence agency of India) station chief in Islamabad. He along with seven other Indian embassy staff were accused of espionage and terrorism, according to the
, which gave an eight-point list of their subversive activities under the cover of diplomatic assignments. He is most definitely acting as RAW’s station chief in Dhaka and is up to no good — like he was in Pakistan. And his meeting today with the two Jatiya Party leaders is the closest thing we will get to a smoking gun of RAW/India’s full-on meddling in Bangladesh’s elections. What business can an Indian embassy staff have with these two opposition leaders? This was definitely not an official engagement.
Until 4-5 days ago, the Jatiya Party, which is the main opposition in the parliament against the ruling Awami League, was hesitant about taking part in the sham election. Then on the 22nd of November, Mr Chunnu made a shock announcement on behalf of Mr Quader that Jatiya Party will take part in the polls and field candidates in all 300 constituencies. Why this change of heart when Mr Quader himself went out and said in public that there is a good chance of getting (Western) sanctions if the election is held in this setup? Has the political environment magically improved? Is he no longer scared of the sanctions? The only plausible answer is extreme coercion by forces, most likely by RAW agents, to give this one-sided election the veneer of being free, fair and participatory by having the Jatiya Party participate in it with gusto. Curiously,
, which is said to have strong Delhi links, reported on this meeting between Mr Agnihotri and the two Jatiya Party leaders. That report has been taken down, which suggests RAW is cooking up something ominous.