Faruque Ahmed
As Narendra Modi is becoming the 14th prime minister of India on May 26, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated him for the historic victory comparing it with her own ‘landslide victory’ in a January 5 farcical voter-less election.
The people of Bangladesh appear to be generally happy over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led United Democratic Alliance’s (UDA) success in Delhi, though many are concerned about Modi’s anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign. However, people have serious reservation on Hasina’s comparing her farcical poll victory with that of BJP’s, which was free and fair elections.
Moreover, Sheikh Hasina’s message to Narendra Modi may be a cunning move to take shelter under BJP’s landslide victory to take equal pride over her own ‘managed win’ in a farcical polls in Bangladesh.
People here however sincerely share Bangladesh Prime Minister’s invitation to Naren Modi to open his foreign tours by visiting Bangladesh first. But her offer to Modi to treat Bangladesh as his second home appears a ploy to win the heart and mind of the Indian leader to replace Awami League’s hitherto closer political ties with the Congress. Perhaps, she wants to switch sides now.
Two unequal polls
Routing the Congress led United People’s Alliance (UPA) to a humiliating defeat, the Hindu ultranationalist BJP won landslide mandate winning 336 seats in the Lok Sava – the lower house of Indian parliament – for the United Democratic Alliance in which BJP alone bagged 282 seats.
This was unlike the election of 154 Awami League MPs unopposed in Bangladesh even before January 5 election as there was no opposition candidate in the race against them. Other Awami League MPs and their allies were similarly elected to present parliament under a seat sharing arrangement without major opposition taking part in the polls. There is absolutely no room to compare the two elections at per.
In Delhi, the Congress led UPA secured around 6o seats of which the Congress secured only 44 – a historic low that it never experienced before. In seven states it failed to secure even a single seat while in many provinces (states) the number vary from four to five seats trailing behind many local political parties.
Indian Parliamentary elections began at the middle of April and ended on May 12 running over nine phases. The Indian Election Commission announced the results on May 16 and it most conspicuously confirmed the showing of many exit polls that BJP and its Hindutva exponent and ultranationalist Prime Minister candidate Narendra Modi was going to win the election and rule the nation.
During the election campaign Narendra Modi along with the entire BJP leadership ran highly acrimonious election campaign exposing failures and corruptions of the Congress led government in Delhi and around the Gandhi family. But once in command, Modi lost no time to show the highest respect to the Gandhi family surprising political observers at home and abroad.
He was initially set to take oath of office on May 21 but he made the point clear that he wants the presence of Congress president Sonia Ghandi and senior vice president Rahul Ghandi at the swearing in ceremony. He said he was ready to reschedule the date if the Gandhi family finds it inconvenient as it falls on the death anniversary of Rajib Gandhi, another prime minister of India from the Gandhi dynasty who was slain by Tamil insurgents but loved by most Indians as a good leader.
Similarity in AL, BJP’s policy
The BJP is highly critical to the Indian Muslims and one of its party leader last week said terrorism is exclusively coming from the members of a religious faith in India (meaning the Muslims) and they must leave for Pakistan. Sheikh Hasina also often advises her Islamist opponents to leave for Pakistan.
So the BJP’s religion based politics and Awami League’s secular politics though sounds opposing each other they may not however face difficulties to find a common ground to fight what they say Islamist terrorism in Bangladesh. Their priority may continue in line with the outgoing Congress government.
Past experience showed even secular Congress and religious BJP had no trouble to forge a common ground in matters relating to the demolition of Babri Mosque. It is true that the Hindu religious groups launched the campaign to destroy the Babri Mosque, but it was the Congress government in Delhi led by Noroshima Rao which allowed the fanatics to storm the Mosque and destroy it.
But people here believe that any government in Delhi other than the one led by Congress takes better care of Bangladesh issues. They believe that the question of Teesta water sharing and ratification of boundary agreement by the Indian parliament along with many other sensitive matters may be easier to solve now with the absolute majority of the BJP led government at the centre.
The question is how Mamata Benarjee of West Bengal can be taken into confidence as she is critical to both Modi and water sharing issue with Bangladesh Bangladesh wants a peaceful border and more engagement with India on economy and business. It also requires political stability in Bangladesh which in turn requires a free and fair election without delay.
Source: Weekly Holiday
