As Bangladesh has lately conducted a national election to get its government in Dhaka, the people of eastern India will only hope for a progressive nation with political stability and economic development. The Muslim majority nation of over 170 million people continues to become a headache for north-eastern states, precisely Assam, for several reasons ranging from unabated influx of migrants to regional security concerns. The land connectivity with the rest of India is often challenged by some motivated Bangladeshi elements mentioning about the narrow Siliguri corridor. Many of them even fantasize incorporating a large part of eastern Bharat to establish a greater Banglasthan. They argue a nation should have a sea, a fertile valley with rivers and also mountains, eventually meaning some parts of Bhutan and Tibet too in their dream. Some others strongly believe that Bangladesh, which nurtures a single linguistic identity (Bengali), should now attain mono religion (read Islam) characteristics.
The largely peaceful election in recent decades with around 60 percent voters’ turn out witnessed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) winning 212 seats in the 300-member Parliament (another 50 women members will be added to it). Tarique Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman, led the party in the election without instigating anti-India rhetoric, which is otherwise a common norm in Bangladesh to gain instant popularity. The popular speechifying got momentum after the ousted premier Sheikh Hasina took shelter in New Delhi, where she along with thousands of her party (Awami League) leaders continue to seek political asylum since her sudden departure on 5 August 2024. The interim government, formed under leadership of Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, repeatedly asked for Hasina’s extradition, as she faces death sentence by a tribunal, but without positive responses from New Delhi. However, the country’s new leader in the political sphere avoided any aggressive comments against Hasina, commenting that the issue should be dealt with a legal initiative.
When Bangladesh attracted international media attention with a series of atrocities on religious minority families in recent years, four non-Muslim candidates including two Hindus (namely Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Nitai Roy Chowdhury) could emerge victorious in the last election. Nominated by the BNP, both defeated Jamaat candidates. Two other winning candidates from minority communities namely Saching Pru and Dipen Dewan were also nominated by the BNP. Needless to mention is that the Hindus are currently living in the country with a dwindling population of around 13 million (only 8% of population), whereas during the partition, they made up over 22 %.
Meanwhile, in his last televised address to the nation as the caretaker government’s chief adviser Dr Yunus described the 12 February election ‘not merely as a power transfer but the beginning of a new journey for Bangladesh’s democracy’. The globally acclaimed microcredit initiator and social business promoter reminded the countrymen that the interim regime started working from minus (not even zero), as the poverty stricken country was made rubble by the former ruler (read Hasina). The reputed economics professor reiterated his emphasis on the enormous opportunities for Bangladesh with a potential growth of regional cooperation with Nepal, Bhutan and eastern India. He concluded by appealing to the Bangladeshis, along with political leaderships, to uphold and strengthen the momentum for peace, progress and reforms with unwavering unity in the coming days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the BNP leadership for the decisive results in polls. Modi was, in fact, the first global leader to call Tarique Rahman and expressed interest in working with Dhaka for mutual benefits to both the neighbouring countries. The BNP leadership promptly acknowledged Modi’s gesture and stated that Dhaka looks forward to engaging constructively with New Delhi to advance a multifaceted relationship, guided by mutual respect, sensitivity to each other’s concerns and a shared commitment to peace, stability and prosperity in the entire region.
But concerns for India in general and Assam in particular remain as Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party that opposed the1971 liberation movement taking side of the western Pakistan, has emerged as the main opposition party in Jatiya Sansad for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. The Jamaat guided an alliance of 11 parties to win 77 seats, where the Shafiqur Rahman-led party alone won in 68 constituencies, amazingly in most of West Bengal bordering constituencies. On the other hand, the newly surfaced political party, National Citizen Party (which was formed by the students, who orchestrated the July-August 2024 uprising to topple Hasina’s government in Dhaka) had joined hands with the Jamaat in electoral battles and won six seats.
Seemingly, a potential threat is looming at large for the north-eastern region that needs to be addressed smartly after recalibrating bilateral ties with the troubled neighbour!
Awaiting a progressive Bangladeshi regime in Dhaka
