India’s current political maneuvers, particularly those involving religious factors, are akin to pouring cold water on a relationship that has endured for over half a century. Such actions risk tarnishing the two nations’ deep-rooted historical, cultural, and mutual respect.
It’s crucial to recognize that India and Bangladesh have shared a resilient relationship that has weathered many hiccups over the last fifty years. However, recent political maneuvers in India, particularly those influenced by religious factors, create tensions that could undermine this precious bond.
In India, a wave of negativity has emerged, fueled not only by certain media outlets but also by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which champions the Hindutva ideology.
The rhetoric challenges the legitimacy of the Interim Government headed by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, who has promised to hold free and fair parliamentary elections in early 2026.
As Prof Yunus stated, “The Bangladesh-India relationship is deep and multifaceted. We can have our differences but that cannot define it.” Delhi is reluctant to engage positively with the new government after Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime has fallen and fled to India.
The narrative being propagated suggests that Yunus has strayed from Bangladesh’s secular premises, leaving the door ajar to radicalized Muslims that have unfortunately perpetrated violence against the Hindu community, vandalizing Hindu business establishments and desecrating temples.
The Godi Media, a term used to describe sensationalist and biased Indian print and TV news media, has been instrumental in perpetuating this misinformation.
They have broadcasted/posted several fake videos showing attacks on Hindus and the killing of scores of Hindus, further exacerbating the tensions. The Godi Media described the religious tensions as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”, which is far from the accepted definition by academics.
Despite the diligent efforts of fact-checkers in both Bangladesh and India, including the BBC, has debunked these fabrications, the negative portrayal of Bangladesh continues. But that did not stop or even slow down the tirade of stories demonizing Bangladesh.
An investigation by fact-checker Rumor Scanner identified 13 misleading reports published by Indian media between August and December following the collapse of the Awami League government.
According to Rumor Scanner, 49 media outlets, including well-known names such as the Republic Bangla, Hindustan Times, Zee News, Live Mint, Republic TV, India Today, ABP Anand, and Aaj Tak, were implicated in spreading this inaccurate information.
Alarmingly, the analysis further revealed that a staggering 72% of social media accounts based in India are engaged in spreading misleading narratives about Bangladesh.
Editor Mahfuz Anam of the influential English newspaper The Daily Star writes that a powerful section of the Indian media has shifted into the “reprimand” mode, with some even suggesting “punishment.” Much of the social media discourse seems to support this.
The Indian media’s coverage appears to be driven by concern solely for Hindus of Bangladesh, rather than the people of Bangladesh, remarks Anam.
New Delhi’s South Block has weaponized the Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh to hide their diplomatic debacle for putting all eggs in one basket in the hand of their blue-eyed Sheikh Hasina.
It is undeniable that the religious and ethnic communities in Bangladesh were victims of persecution, atrocities, vandalism of business establishments and desecration of religious prayer halls, including Hindu temples, Christian churches, Buddhist pagodas and also Ahmadiyya Muslim mosques.
The sectarian persecution and violence in Bangladesh, it is essential to contextualize these events within the historical legacy of injustice that has plagued the region.
Since Bangladesh’s independence, perpetrators of religiously motivated violence have evaded accountability. There is no denying that such attacks on religious communities are a legacy of perpetrators enjoying impunity.
None of the perpetrators faced the music of justice since 1972 when independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned from imprisonment in Pakistan.
This silence in holding aggressors accountable for sectarian violence has perpetuated a cycle of impunity that continues to impact communities today.
Durga Puja is a sacred religious festival of the Hindus of Bengal (historically, Bangladesh was known as East Bengal). It dampened the spirit of the newly independent Bangladesh of millions of Hindus, secularists, advocates of pluralism, and liberal Muslims alike.
Even under the despotic leadership of Sheikh Hasina, calls for accountability have often gone unheard. Many Hindus in Bangladesh, who have historically supported the Awami League, feel disillusioned by the lack of action taken against those responsible for religious violence.
The perception persists that the ruling party, rather than protecting extremism, has allowed perpetrators to go unpunished. Instead, she blamed Islamist parties and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the sectarian violence.
Rana Dasgupta, a former General Secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Christian Buddhist Unity Council, noted the unfortunate reality that some grassroots leaders of the Awami League were found in the company of rioters during incidents of violence.
At a press conference in Chattagram (formerly Chittagong), his organization lamented the political leadership’s failure to safeguard Hindu temples and communities during crucial festivals.
Despite these challenges, it’s vital to recognize the diversity that exists within Bangladesh, where nearly 9% of the population identifies as Hindu, alongside smaller communities of Buddhists, Christians, and others within a predominantly Sunni Muslim landscape.
Each year, civil society groups, human rights advocates, and concerned citizens reflect on how they can uphold secularism and pluralism principles essential for a collective future. According to Ain O Salish Kendra, a Bangladeshi human rights organization, at least 3,600 similar attacks have occurred in Bangladesh between 2013 and 2021.
Such violence had prompted Prof Robaet Ferdous of Dhaka University, an outspoken defender of religious freedom, to say, “It’s not a failure of the local administration, police or the ruling party to protect the Hindus, but I see the collapse of the society during a national crisis, which contradicts the legacy of the glorious liberation war in 1971 which promised to establish secularism, pluralism, and freedom of expression in Bangladesh.”
According to Rana Dasgupta, “… a culture of impunity has been created in Bangladesh for attacks on Hindus. Those involved in these attacks have never been prosecuted, and as a result, it continues….”
India’s conspicuous silence over the atrocities, persecution, and vandalism against Hindus and other religious communities during the 15 years of Hasina’s era has been ignored.
The South Block, which looks after the Indian foreign policy in New Delhi, probably did not want to embarrass Sheikh Hasina when the sectarian violence was prominently published in mainstream media and human rights groups identified her Awami League, which she inherited from her father, Sheikh Mujib was the prime accused.
India, despite having a functional democracy and pluralism, never advised Hasina to hold an inclusive, free, fair, and credible election. Delhi’s indulgence has encouraged Hasina to grow into a Frankenstein and dare to rig the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections, angered the West and the core reason for voters’ outrage with her regime.
Reelected for the third consecutive term through holding sham elections, she instead received feathers on her hat and congratulatory messages from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Hefazat-e-Islam, launched in 2010 to “protect Islam”, was spurred particularly by a proposed policy to confer equal inheritance rights to women and women’s empowerment, which is lauded in international media and the United Nations.
During her tenure (2009-2024), she placed the radicalized Islamic organization Hefazat-e-Islam on her lap to defuse their anger against women’s empowerment and women’s rights.
Despite protests from secularists and civil society, her government consciously amended the school textbooks with an Islamic coating. Based on the musical tunes of the Madrassa (Qawmi Islamic schools), the network introduced Islamic culture and tradition into the secular fabric of the society.
She kept the Hefazat in good humor in a bid to shield her authoritarian regime from the dreaded Islamists and jihadists outfits – Jamaat-e-Islami, outlawed Harkatul Jihad al Islam (HuJI), Hizb ut-Tahrir and other fringe outfits.
Bangladesh’s acclaimed political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said the appeasement of Hasina was never to hurt her counterpart Modi by mentioning that the rights of the Dalits (low caste Hindus), Christians, Muslims and ethnic communities also impact Bangladesh.
Not surprisingly, the South Block’s so-called Look East Policy has placed Bangladesh as a delinquent state like that of Pakistan, said Ahmad. India arbitrarily stopped issuing visas to Bangladesh nationals after Hasina’s fall in early August, citing security reasons.
Bangladesh’s number of tourists and visitors to India was 2.12 million in 2023. The figure has dwindled to less than half and will decline when many Bangladesh multiple visas expire in December.
The non-issuance of visas has caused tension among Bangladesh nationals who regularly visit India for medical purposes. Some go on pilgrimage to Ajmer and other holy sites. A significant percentage of people visit India for business and pleasure.
The visa restrictions have stopped direct buses from Dhaka to Kolkata and Dhaka to Agartala. Direct train services from Dhaka to Kolkata, Dhaka to Siliguri, and Khulna-Kolkata have also reached a screeching halt. Similarly, both Bangladesh and Indian airlines have reduced flights by one-third in the absence of passengers who failed to avail of Indian visas.
Ahmad said people-to-people contact has been severely hampered due to visa restrictions imposed by India to punish the people of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the Boycott India campaign on social media, which was joined by fringe political parties, melted after Bangladesh planned to import 50,000 tons of rice from India. The Interim Government recently imported eggs, green chilies, onions, and potatoes to stabilize the kitchen market.
On the other hand, India-Bangladesh bilateral trade is lopsided. Bangladesh’s exports are nearly $2 billion, while imports from India as of 2023 stood at $12 billion. This is also a contention with Indian policymakers and Bangladesh’s industrial, manufacturing, and exporters bodies.
As long as India hosts the fugitive Shiekh Hasina, who lives in exile at an official safe house near Delhi, it will be difficult for India-Bangladesh relations to reach a new height.
Unless she is extradited to Bangladesh to face trial for crimes against humanity, the relations will turn from sour to bitter. Fortunately, Bangladesh and India signed an extradition treaty in 2013.
The prestigious Indian Express newspaper argues that “India also has the option of refusing Hasina’s extradition because the accusations against her are not “in good faith in the interests of justice.” However, Delhi’s newspaper realizes the refusal to extradite Hasina may further strain ties between New Delhi and Dhaka.
Well, India has no option left but to take the risk to save Hasina from walking to the gallows for crimes for ordering the law enforcement agencies to shoot and kill hundreds of students and protesters during the July-August Monsoon Revolution, says former Ambassador Humayun Kabir, who served as a diplomat in India and the United States.
He also said Bangladesh should develop a contingency plan if India decides not to deport her. The government will also have to calculate the risk factor of whether Bangladesh can live without the most prominent neighbor’s fraternity, which had helped achieve the bloody birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, 30 December 2024
Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad
