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Analysis: Has coronavirus given Dhaka an excuse to avoid the embarrassment of anti-Modi protests?
The BJP’s campaign to demonise Bangladeshi migrants has thrown Delhi-Dhaka ties into a tizzy.
Shoaib Daniyal
4 hours ago
An alliance on Bangladesh Islamic parties demonstrates in Dhaka on February 28 against the recent violence in India following the controversial citizenship law. | Munir Uz Zaman/ AFP
On Monday, India’s external affairs ministry announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had deferred a visit to Bangladesh planned for next week because the event that he was to attend had been postponed.
In a surprise move on Sunday, Bangladesh said it had postponed the event to inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations of its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, scheduled for March 17 after three cases of Covid-19 had been detected in the country.
However, speculation is rife in Bangladesh that there was another factor at play: Modi’s presence itself. Last Friday saw large protestsacross several cities in Bangladesh, urging the Hasina government to cancel Modi’s invitation. According to the Dhaka Tribune, protestors also planned to gherao the Dhaka airport to prevent Modi from entering the city.
This heightened anti-Bangladesh rhetroic in India has, not surprisingly, put a severe strain on Dhaka-Delhi relations. In July, 2019, for the first time ever Bangladesh publicallyexpressed fears over India’s NRC process. In response, India has repeatedly tried to assureDhaka that the NRC process would not affect it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during an agreement signing ceremony after a meeting in New Delhi on April 8, 2017. Credit: Prakash Singh/AFP
NRC controversy
The controversy about India’s citizenship initiatives comes at a bad time for the Bangladesh government. The country’s ruling Awami League is the party of the country’s independence, having midwifed the country’s birth under the Bengali nationalist umbrellaof Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina is Mujib’s daughter and depends on her father’s towering legacy for political legitimacy. As a result, Bangladesh had undertaken massive preparations for the Mujib centenary, with Dhaka city covered in hoardings for the event.
Yet, as is clear from this episode, the Hasina administration is now coming under fire for its closeness with India. It was in 2009 when the newly-elected Sheikh Hasina government decided to take ties with India to a new level. Always close to India, the Awami League government did all it could to achieve India’s security goals. Hasina moved decisively against the banned United Liberation Front of Asom. It arrested its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and handed him over to India in 2009. In 2015, it arrested and handed over the ULFA’s general secretary, Anup Chetia. Most significantly, Bangladesh has frozen the vast majority of ULFA’s funds, rendering the once-feared organisation nearly comatose.
India returned the favour in 2014, when the Bangladesh general elections held under an incumbent Hasina government turned out to be little more than a farce. More than half the seats were decided without contest. Significantly, though, New Delhi backedHasina and vouched for the election. This ensured that the Awami League was able to stay in office and murmurs from the United State and Europe about the new government’s legitimacy were shut out.
This arrangement held rather well till, of course, in 2018, the BJP started to really push ahead with the issue of Bangladeshi migrants queering the pitch for Hasina.
Support our journalism by subscribing to Scroll+. We welcome your comments atletters@scroll.in.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sc...avoid-the-embarrassment-of-anti-modi-protests
The BJP’s campaign to demonise Bangladeshi migrants has thrown Delhi-Dhaka ties into a tizzy.
Shoaib Daniyal
4 hours ago
An alliance on Bangladesh Islamic parties demonstrates in Dhaka on February 28 against the recent violence in India following the controversial citizenship law. | Munir Uz Zaman/ AFP
On Monday, India’s external affairs ministry announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had deferred a visit to Bangladesh planned for next week because the event that he was to attend had been postponed.
In a surprise move on Sunday, Bangladesh said it had postponed the event to inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations of its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, scheduled for March 17 after three cases of Covid-19 had been detected in the country.
However, speculation is rife in Bangladesh that there was another factor at play: Modi’s presence itself. Last Friday saw large protestsacross several cities in Bangladesh, urging the Hasina government to cancel Modi’s invitation. According to the Dhaka Tribune, protestors also planned to gherao the Dhaka airport to prevent Modi from entering the city.
This heightened anti-Bangladesh rhetroic in India has, not surprisingly, put a severe strain on Dhaka-Delhi relations. In July, 2019, for the first time ever Bangladesh publicallyexpressed fears over India’s NRC process. In response, India has repeatedly tried to assureDhaka that the NRC process would not affect it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during an agreement signing ceremony after a meeting in New Delhi on April 8, 2017. Credit: Prakash Singh/AFP
NRC controversy
The controversy about India’s citizenship initiatives comes at a bad time for the Bangladesh government. The country’s ruling Awami League is the party of the country’s independence, having midwifed the country’s birth under the Bengali nationalist umbrellaof Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina is Mujib’s daughter and depends on her father’s towering legacy for political legitimacy. As a result, Bangladesh had undertaken massive preparations for the Mujib centenary, with Dhaka city covered in hoardings for the event.
Yet, as is clear from this episode, the Hasina administration is now coming under fire for its closeness with India. It was in 2009 when the newly-elected Sheikh Hasina government decided to take ties with India to a new level. Always close to India, the Awami League government did all it could to achieve India’s security goals. Hasina moved decisively against the banned United Liberation Front of Asom. It arrested its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and handed him over to India in 2009. In 2015, it arrested and handed over the ULFA’s general secretary, Anup Chetia. Most significantly, Bangladesh has frozen the vast majority of ULFA’s funds, rendering the once-feared organisation nearly comatose.
India returned the favour in 2014, when the Bangladesh general elections held under an incumbent Hasina government turned out to be little more than a farce. More than half the seats were decided without contest. Significantly, though, New Delhi backedHasina and vouched for the election. This ensured that the Awami League was able to stay in office and murmurs from the United State and Europe about the new government’s legitimacy were shut out.
This arrangement held rather well till, of course, in 2018, the BJP started to really push ahead with the issue of Bangladeshi migrants queering the pitch for Hasina.
Support our journalism by subscribing to Scroll+. We welcome your comments atletters@scroll.in.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sc...avoid-the-embarrassment-of-anti-modi-protests
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