West Bengal and Bangladesh: Fishing in troubled waters

The world, since the beginning of July, was witness to a textbook example of anarchy, literally setting an entire nation on fire, stymieing social cohesion and setting back economic progress by decades. One of India’s closest neighbours, Bangladesh, was engulfed in chaos when initially students and later disparate elements comprising a wide spectrum of Opposition activists, Islamists and anarchists took to the streets to demonstrate against the system of reservation for war veterans in educational institutions and government jobs. The world watched with horror the scenes that unfolded – arson, loot, vandalism, picketing, rioting and mass murder. The situation has improved since the deployment of the armed forces, though, and Bangladesh is slowly limping back to normalcy.

Democratic governments and civilised societies have a lot to learn in terms of resilience and combatting the forces of anarchy from the recent events that shook this country.

History of India’s partition

The Partition of India created Pakistan albeit in two halves – West and East – with West cornering a lion’s share of resources leading to a natural resentment in the East. Neglect, coupled with suppression of the Bengali linguistic identity and refusal to hand over power to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League (the duly elected leader of the largest party in the undivided National Assembly of Pakistan) led to a civil war, followed by secession in 1971. The Pakistan Army, duly supported by Islamic paramilitary forces like the Razakars, launched Operation Searchlight to kill minority Hindus and secular Muslims and round up Awami League leaders in a bid to quell the dissent leading to a mass refugee exodus into Bharat. This, in turn, led India to help the people of East Pakistan, and so was born Bangladesh.

But, Bangladesh had had a bloody birth and the independent nation was clearly divided into pro-India, secular Awami League and the anti-India Islamist forces comprising Jamaat e Islami. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman decided to reserve seats in educational institutions and public services for Muktijoddhas or liberation war veterans and their children. Herein lies the genesis of today’s problems.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally assassinated along with his entire family in 1975, by a rogue coterie of Bangladesh Army personnel. His daughter Sheikh Hasina, the present Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has ostensibly continued with her father’s policy and cemented her already warm relationship with India by clamping down on anti-Indian forces in Bangladesh, forging better ties in trade and transit and also being a bulwark against rising Islamofascism in South Asia.

Having lost four successive elections in a row, the Opposition BNP is largely discredited and leaderless. The Jamaat e Islami is banned and its leaders were hanged for their complicity in killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Western media and the Opposition BNP-Jamaat allege that Hasina has been liberal with economic reforms and growth while being conservative with freedom of speech and personal liberties.

Increasing population is leading to a tough competition for limited seats in educational institutions. This , coupled with the shrinking role of the public sector, has reduced the number of jobs available. A 30 per cent reservation on top of it has added to the frustration and misery of the largely young workforce and students. The Awami League Government had reduced the quota system in 2020, but this was reinstated by the Bangladesh High Court in early 2024, which led to a spontaneous but uncoordinated protests by students across the country. Amid sporadic clashes between the students wing of the ruling party, Chatra League and those who opposed the quota system, classes were affected in several prestigious institutions like BUET, Dhaka, Jahangirnagar and North South University.

To be fair to the students, their demands held some water. However, sinister forces comprising anti-liberation war elements, a demoralised Opposition, rabid Islamists backed by global powers like China and foreign intelligence agencies like the ISI hijacked the movement and sought to overthrow the elected Government of Bangladesh and the original demand of abolishing the quota system took a back seat.

PM Hasina cut short her trip to China due to pressure tactics by the CPC (Communist Party of China) and the subsequent diplomatic snub. She returned to Dhaka and witnessed the protests reaching a crescendo and violence spilling out of the campus, on to the major cities like Dhaka, Narayanpur, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Jessore among others.

The CPC is a deft practitioner of Sun Tzu’s art of war and has destabilised various countries that have not towed Beijing’s line. Hasina added fuel to the fire by saying ‘If the Muktijoddhas don’t get the quota, should the Razakars get it’. The Pakistani deep state has never accepted the reality of Bangladesh and breakup of undivided Pakistan and has always supported the Islamist forces, this incident being no different. A coordinated assault on various institutions of the state began with looting of police armouries, stone pelting of paramilitary personnel, vandalising government buildings and setting on fire various institutions like municipal corporations.

Narsinghdi, just 50 kilometres from Dhaka, had its jail broken into and inmates, including terrorists being freed. Flights, trains and Internet services were cut short. The Army was called in at this juncture and curfew imposed. The state finally gained control of the situation within 48 hours of the deployment of armed forces. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh struck down the orders of the High Court. The quota was effectively reduced to 5 per cent, thus addressing the original grievance of the students.

Across the border in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has always displayed fissiparous tendencies and an anti-India mindset, began to fish in troubled waters. It is no secret that Banerjee is in cohorts with the Islamists and has ensured that infiltration continues unabated across the international border. This she did by denying land to the BSF to build outposts which would ensure 24X7 surveillance of the border. There has been a deliberate attempt to change the demography of the border districts of West Bengal that would electorally benefit her. She had sent known Islamist and founder of the banned organisation, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Ahmed Hasan Imran to the Rajya Sabha despite reservations of the then UPA Government. Imran was a conduit for the banned terror outfit Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh in India. She has blackmailed successive governments at the Centre against sharing the waters of the Teesta river with Bangladesh. In her recent party programme on the July 21, she publicly stated that any individual seeking shelter in India due to the alleged high handedness of the law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh is free to come to West Bengal. This is a clear breach of her mandate as a chief minister since subject she has encroached upon lies within the ambit and legislative competence of the Union Government.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Hassan Mahmud has rightly expressed anguish on her blatant interference into the domestic politics of a friendly foreign neighbour and has sent a note of protest to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi. West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has sought a report from Banerjee on her recent comments which would definitely not be forthcoming as she has a history of constitutional transgressions.

A friendly foreign nation calling out the provocative remarks of a sitting Chief Minister is a sheer embarrassment for India on the world stage. But the unexpected can always be expected from Banerjee – a few years back she had to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh to the Calcutta High Court for foul-mouthing sitting Justice Kaushik Chanda. After having won a majority of seats in her state in the recently held Lok Sabha elections by means mainly foul, Banerjee is emboldened to break all bounds of morality and propriety.

Meanwhile, PM Hasina deserves platitudes for deftly bringing Bangladesh back on its feet and foiling the designs of Islamists who left no stone unturned to push Bangladesh into medievalism.