Calls from a responsible neighbour that gave Bangladesh birth cannot be wished away. It should be taken in the right spirit by the people of Bangladesh, whose umbilical cord with India is still in place – Jaideep Saikia
Bangladesh is India’s eastern extremity. The country is but an adjunct that should rightfully acknowledge its position as an integral end of the South Asian ethos of which India is the great Banyan emotion.
Bangladesh is a mere limb of India which broke away as a result of harsh British partition politics. It is but a leaf off the greater Indian green yard. Were it not for Sam Bahadur, the eastern wing would have continued to be in the throes of Pakistan’s avaricious pestilence.
But Bangladesh is also a crucial midpoint between the terror hotspots of South and Southeast Asia. Therefore, if there were to be a terrorist incident in India by, say, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the pull-back area could well be Bangladesh, as much as it would be for the Jemaah Islamiyah after the latter carries out an attack in Indonesia or thereabouts. The homegrown tanzeems in Bangladesh, like the Ansarullah Bangla Team, the Hizbut Tahrir, the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, or even the overground Islamist organisations such as the Hifazat-e-Andolan Bangladesh and certainly the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), must not be separated from the ideological moorings of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. In the universe of discourse of terror and deviousness, radical Islam in this part of the world is spawned, nursed and guided by just one organisation, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
Today, if Gholam Azam’s men and the JeI, who did not want the dismemberment from Pakistan, are attempting to goose-step back into the streets of Dhaka, and perhaps tomorrow to the Jatiyo Sangsod, then it is because of an extra-regional design and quite clearly because of the machinations that are at work inside “curious” Dhaka and a pliant Md. Yunus and his cabal.
The JeI’s current and temporary victory in parts is a misfortune for a culturally progressive people that had thwarted the upsurge of radical Islamism in the pre-1971 era when the JeI had joined hands with the marauding Pakistan army. The secular forces won as well, not only against radical Islamism but also against the western wing.
If presently, the JeI and its student wing, the Islami Chattra Shibir, succeed in taking over Bangladesh, as all signs seem to be indicating—especially after the victories in the elections in the Dhaka, Jahangirnagar, Rajshahi and Chittagong Universities—then it can be certain that the troika of the CIA, the ISI and (a section of) the DGFI has won. Furthermore, it has been reported that JeI’s popularity is gradually gaining ground in the erstwhile East Pakistan, and a poll conducted not so long ago indicates that the Islamist grouping is just about 5% behind the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which was considered to be a frontrunner, especially as the Awami League has been banned.
India’s Northeast is restive for a number of reasons. A crucial election is round the corner, and despite the fact that a spirited and well-meaning leadership in Dispur has taken upon itself the onerous and long-awaited task of cleansing Assam of a variety of ailments, including illegal encroachment, polygamy and the enactment of the much-needed Assam Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, agent saboteurs could create trouble.
The sage acts, as aforesaid, by a responsible government have endeared the dispensation to all right-thinking people of the state. But a section that has been adversely (and within the purview of law) affected might rabble-rouse and stir up disaffection and even engineer nefarious anti-state action. The Islamist assertions that are beginning to be felt in abutting Bangladesh might evoke sinister cross-border sentiments and fuel fires of unrest in Assam. Statements about the Northeast from illegitimate voices emanating from Dhaka have only muddied the waters among a populace in which such an illicit constituency resides. The ISI, especially after the humiliation of Sindoor and its own internal problems, would not resist the opportunity to step in and fish in troubled waters. The recent cross-pollination between the intelligence agencies and the armed forces of Pakistan and Bangladesh, too, points at a duality of propelling an anti-India agenda. Assam, with its social imbalances, would be the primary ground for such a malicious advancement.
But it must be said that the erstwhile East Pakistan, which is temporarily in the throes of extra-regional pressure and an alien radical agenda, would not seek to don a curvature that is attempting to shape itself as anti-India. It is simply impossible. Bangladesh’s economy, its socio-political reality and its very foundation have India in their roots. Indeed, were it not for India, the country would never have gotten its very name.
India’s identity in the world and particularly in South Asia is one that has been established on the basis of her history and humanity. The appendages (Pakistan and later on Bangladesh) that had crept out of a Herculean cry for freedom in 1947 are yet to attain complete profiles. The aspects that Bangladesh witnessed before 1971 testify to the fact. The manner in which it ripped itself from Pakistan, an errant Indian appendage, was as a result of the Indian armed forces. The present aberrations, too, would soon be taken care of by the pivotal directions of the present Indian political leadership under Modi and Shah.
Even as global postage awaits the abomination of an Asim Munir as Pakistan’s “Failed Marshal”, attempts to reformulate the relationship with its once eastern wing on the basis of religion and divide are being sought to be re-established. It must be clear that the majority of the populace of Bangladesh, presently cowed down, are for good ties with India and would never accept Pakistani overlordship. Their fair existence depends on cordial relations with the country that midwifed it.
The population of Bangladesh wants a free, fair and, most importantly, an all-inclusive election in the country.
Calls from a responsible neighbour which gave the country birth cannot be wished away. It should be taken in the right spirit by the people of Bangladesh, whose umbilical cord with India is still in place.
The sham pundits that are trying to steer their vision in a different direction also need to be clear about this imperative.
At the same time, India’s policy responses towards growing radicalisation in Bangladesh have to be ones that act as an enabler for the right-thinking people of Bangladesh, the ones who, out of fear of persecution from an illegitimate regime, are not yet articulating their choice. Voices from New Delhi must also be steadfast about Sheikh Hasina’s presence in India. It must make it clear that kangaroo court judgements would not affect the manner in which India would view a friend.
However, until the ecosystem of Bangladesh undergoes the catharsis that will eventually ferry it back to its realities, there is danger that pretenders in Dhaka might navigate a section of the country’s populace into a radical posture that might not only smear an otherwise secular people but could witness an escalation in internal unrest and radical Islamism that could spill over, as aforesaid, into Assam’s lower reaches.
The consequence of such a fallout could be dire for Assam. It could, if caution is not exercised, witness aspects that were witnessed, not so long ago, in the vicinity of the Red Fort. Such sinister acts cannot be ruled out in Assam, especially as the illegal migrant population from Bangladesh inside Assam continues to be informed by experience from across the border. Salafism would find a veritable staging ground for both Assam and the rest of India in the demographic jungle that has come to characterise some of the Bangladesh-bordering districts of Assam.
Radicalisation is no longer a preserve only of madrassa-educated creations of the lower strata of a particular community. It has reached “white-collared” minds, as was witnessed in the Faridabad conspiracy. This new threat has to be borne in mind. Indeed, as was alluded to in an earlier column, “Self-Radicalisation” has become a reality. To quote a sentence from the United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism, 2023. “The societal shift to an online world has led to issues and grievances from a wide range of sources becoming ideological.”
As the Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma has warned, “Extremism is not about ignorance anymore—it is about the failure of conviction. We must address it before it is too late.”
(Jaideep Saikia is a universally recognised strategist, thinker and bestselling author. He can be reached at jdpsaikia@gmail.com.)