The recent events in Bangladesh are not just a cause for concern but I think, it is now bordering as a threat in being. Ironically within a century, the lighthouse of Indian civilisation, undivided Bengal has turned into such a morass that no one could have imagined. The land of Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, which even the British had to finally surrender to, when they revoked the 1905 division of Bengal. This abyss that both Bengals find themselves in today, can be traced back to the seeds of radicalisation sowed in the pre-partition era. The riots and violence which was unleashed on the minorities in the predominantly Muslim East Bengal those days was not an aberration. The overt bon-homie between the communities could not paper over the deep divide within, like a powder keg, just waiting for any trigger to explode. Humanity itself was disgraced and ashamed by the horrendous acts of mindless violence that arsonists indulged in, after the clarion call given by Jinnah of “Direct Action Day” on 16 Aug 1946. Thus the roots of Jamaat-i-Islami are not Pakistani in origin, it is homegrown, of course actively supported by ISI. Jamaatis were not eliminated from Bangladesh after 1971, they were just sidelined, and they were waiting in the wings to strike, when they were in a position to do that.
India is guilty of firstly presuming that these Jamaat activists are fringe elements, secondly of underestimating the threat emerging in the East and thirdly of total intelligence failure at not having been able to see the writing on the wall during the regime of Shaikh Hasina’s Awami League. Even in 1975, when Shakih Mujib was assassinated, we were caught napping and let Bangladesh slip out of our sphere of influence. Indo-Bangladesh relations remained cold during the nearly two decades of rule by military dictators, generals Zia-ur-Rahman and HM Ershad and thereafter by Begum Khaleda Zia’s BNP. The return of Awami League brought the two nations closer,Shaikh Hasina owed her life to India, as she survived the Mujib Family massacre by virtue of being in India on that fateful day. She was successful in getting the economy of this beleaguered nation kick started and India was happily providing all the support. Maintaining good neighbourly relations is a win-win for both the nations and augured well for their populace and their economies as well. The close cooperation helped, but unfortunately Bangladesh was hampered by a highly vitiated political environment, where BNP and Awami League were at loggerheads. For any functioning democracy, ruling party and the principal opposition must enjoy cordial relationship and not demonstrated animosity. The differences should be ideological and not taken down to personal levels. If there is a total breakdown of communication between the two, as was witnessed by BNP boycotting the elections in 2024, the election process itself is sabotaged and becomes suspect.
In India, the growing chasm between BJP and the Opposition is definitely not healthy. By no means am I equating the two situations, but in seventy eight years of independent India, this is the first time the relations between the two rival groups have stooped so low. While acrimonious debates in the parliaments are par for the course, but in private, the politicians indulged in friendly banter and often even socialised. It takes two hands to clap and both the ruling dispensation and the opposition are to blame for the present imbroglio.
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